


and i follow just to find you

by angstandcaffeine



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Gun Violence, M/M, Supernatural Elements, not explicit but there is some sexual content, the church of samothes is the supernatural mob. basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-05-07 09:59:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19207075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstandcaffeine/pseuds/angstandcaffeine
Summary: Throndir has tracked down Arrell and wants revenge. Ephrim's not looking for a fight, just a way out of town.(aka what if the end of winter in hieron was a gay road trip)





	1. chapter one

Throndir paced back and forth across his apartment. Dinner was nearly ready, the fridge was stocked with beer. All that was left was for his friend to arrive.

They had hung out hundreds of times before, but none of those times had made Throndir nervous like this. The weight of his question hung on shoulders.

Finally, Hadrian rang the doorbell. He hurried him in, shoving a plate and a bottle of Hadrian’s favorite beer at him. The longer he had to wait to share his news, the more likely it was that Throndir was going to explode.

“Hey man,” Hadrian laughed. “You can slow down a little. We’re not going anywhere else tonight.” He paused. “Wait, are we supposed to go somewhere tonight?”

“No, you’re good there.” He grinned. “But you might want some of that,” he nodded to the beer, “because I need to ask you something, and it’s kind of a big deal.”

“Okay.” He sat down across from Throndir, giving him his full attention. When they had first met, Throndir had found his stare a little intimidating, but now he met it with no hesitation.

“I’ve found Arrell.” Throndir didn’t mince words. “I’m going to finish him, and I want you to come with me.”

Hadrian almost choked on his beer. “Are you serious?”

“When have I ever joked about this?”

“Where- where is he?”

“In a small town in New Jersey. If we leave tomorrow, we can get there by Saturday.”

“Saturday?” He sighed. “Can’t we just fly?”

“I’m not flying again. Too many emotions in one metal tube. He’s camped out, not going anywhere. Saturday will be fine.”

“Throndir.” He set down his glass, looking at his friend across the table. “You know I can’t do this.”

“We finally have a chance to make this right.”

“I have a wife. And a kid. What he did to Fantasmo was awful, but I can’t just leave them to go fight an evil wizard.”

Throndir ran his hands through his hair. “Okay. I get it. Then Kodiak and I will go.”

“You can’t go alone.”

“I just said I was bringing Kodiak.”

“A person, Throndir. You need to bring a person.”

Throndir rolled his eyes. 

“Okay,” Hadrian continued, lowering his voice. “I can’t come with you. I cannot. But what if I knew someone who could?”

Throndir frowned. “Are you talking about Hella? Because she already turned me down. Said magicians don’t fight fair.”

Hadrian snorted. “No. I uh- I have a friend in The Church who’s looking to skip town for a few days. He’s pretty handy in a fight, and obviously I don’t know if he’ll help you with Arrell specifically, but he’ll make sure you get there in one piece.”

Throndir rolled his eyes. “I thought you were done with The Church.”

Hadrian ignored him. “His name is Ephrim.”

“What is he?”

“Human, but with some… specialities.”

Throndir raised an eyebrow. 

“Like I said, he’ll make sure you get there safe.”

Throndir thought about it for a moment. Unknown backup was better than no backup, and Hadrian wouldn’t recommend him unless he trusted him. “All right,” he said. “Where do I find him?”

“He’ll be at the Silver Lining tomorrow night.” Throndir started to interrupt, but Hadrian wouldn’t let him. “Yes, you’re going to have to wait one more day. You’ll live.”

“Making me wait isn’t going to change my mind.”

He sighed. “I know. But I can hope, right?”

Throndir laughed at that. “This Ephrim better be worth the wait.”

Hadrian smiled. “Trust me, he is.”

***

Throndir hadn’t been in the Silver Lining before, but he knew it was ran by a nice werewolf couple whose bikes he had fixed up a few months ago, so he figured it was as good a meeting place as any. The bar was dim, with wooden stools and a few booths. He walked up to the bartender and ordered a drink (“Whiskey neat, please.”) and glanced around, looking for Ephrim. 

He was looking for someone with bright red hair, and, in Hadrian’s words, “He’ll probably be wearing some obnoxious cloak and boots.” But no one matching that description was in the bar, so he sat down into the corner booth and waited.

Throndir seemingly had arrived just before the rush, because when he looked up from his phone ten minutes later, the bar was packed. He debated getting another drink, nearly done with his, when he locked eyes with someone across the bar.

He matched the description he had been given: fire red hair, black jacket with a popped collar and fur trim, and leather boots with a heel. The part that Hadrian had not described properly was how  _ pretty  _ he was-- really, Hadrian, any kind of warning would have been great. Ephrim seemed to look him up and down, gave him a quick wink, and went to order something from the bartender.

When he finally sat down across from Throndir, he was sipping a cocktail that matched the color of both his hair and his painted red lips. “Throndir, I’m guessing?”

He nodded. “It’s nice to meet you,” he managed to say, quieting the part of his brain that was having a very hard time focusing. 

“Likewise.” He smiled, then bent over to look under the table. “Hadrian said I was looking for a lumberjack with a dog. I see the lumberjack,” he gestured towards Throndir’s green flannel, “but no dog.”

He laughed. “Kodiak’s at home.”

“Shame.”

Throndir didn’t see a point in beating around the bush. “I hear you’re trying to leave town.”

“I hear you’re trying to do something very stupid and dangerous. Hadrian wouldn’t say what, though.” He rolled his eyes a little.

“What do you know about Arrell?”

“Well, I haven’t been around here long,” he started. Throndir filed that bit of information away. Why did he need to leave so soon? “But I’ve heard that he’s very powerful and kind of an asshole.”

“He’s very powerful and a very big asshole. He possessed and killed my friend. He’s responsible for kidnapping who knows how many others in pursuit of his own magical abilities. And I found him, and I’m going to kill him.”

Ephrim laughed. “So you want, like, an accomplice?”

“I just want to finally end this. And I would rather not die in the process.”

“Where is he?”

“New Jersey.”

Ephrim made a face. “When do we fly out?”

“We don’t,” Throndir admitted. “We have to drive.”

Ephrim sipped his drink, pretty clearly taking a moment to examine him. 

“You don’t have to do the end bit with me,” he said. “But Hadrian said he knew you through The Church, so I imagine if you need to skip town, you  _ need _ to skip town. So there’s a seat in my car for you. And if you want to help make our world better by taking out Arrell, I would love the help.”

Ephrim put the drink down. “Has anybody ever told you that you’re kind of an intense person?”

Throndir’s brow furrowed. “No.”

“Really? Because this entire proposition is completely wild.”

Throndir felt his heart sink a little bit. He knew this was something he could do on his own, but the company would have been nice. Especially if the company looked like Ephrim.

“I’m still going to do it, to be clear. But this is a wild plan.” He grinned. “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Perfect.” Ephrim lifted his glass in a salute, then downed the rest of it.

***

Throndir picked up Ephrim at a gas station the next morning- a weird meeting place, honestly, but hey, he couldn’t judge Ephrim for keeping private about where he lived. He had packed the trunk with two weeks of clothes, a big bag of dog food, water, “human” food, medical supplies for Ephrim, and his gun case.

Kodiak leaned forward from where he was in the back seat, pushing his face between the two front seats to nudge him. Throndir smiled and scratched his head. “You’ll meet him in like, two minutes, buddy. Have a little patience.”

Sure enough, Ephrim rounded a corner. Throndir had thought his dramatic choice of clothing had been for the bar last night, but apparently skin tight black pants and plunging necklines were a consistent look for him. Throndir opened the car door and stepped out.

“Morning,” Ephrim called, backpack slung over his shoulder. Apparently he didn’t have many worldly possessions- or he was leaving them all behind.

“Hi,” said Throndir, giving him a genuine smile. “Okay, before you get in the car, we should probably do your Kodiak introduction outside, or he’ll go wild when we get on the highway.”

“Yes, the infamous Kodiak,” he grinned. Throndir opened the door and he came bounding out.

“Hello!” Throndir couldn’t help but smile as Ephrim’s voice jumped up an octave. “Oh my god, hi Kodiak!” Kodiak didn’t seem to be wary of Ephrim at all, diving right in for lots of pets. That was a good sign. Throndir trusted Kodiak’s judgment more than anyone else’s. He circled around Ephrim’s legs and hopped back into the car. “Throndir, Kodiak is very nice, but that’s not a dog. That’s a bear.”

Throndir laughed, heading back into the driver’s seat. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Ephrim said, smile suddenly dropping to something more serious. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Okay,” Throndir said, pulling out of the gas station and towards the highway.

***

“So,” Ephrim asked maybe an hour into their first day of driving, “what dirt did you dig up about me?”

Throndir frowned. “Excuse me?”

“What did you find out about me before this whole thing started?”

“I mean, I already told you: Hadrian said you were a friend of his, who was involved with that Samothes bullshit-- no offense.”

He snorted. “None taken, believe me.”   


“And he said that you were in trouble, or something.”

“That’s it?” He laughed. “That’s all you knew before I got into your car this morning?”

Throndir blushed. “I mean, I did ask if you were human.”

“So he told you about this?” Ephrim snapped his fingers, and a bright flame sparked in his hand.

“Holy shit!” 

“That would be a no.”

“He said you had powers.” He looked at Ephrim’s eyes in the mirror. “But Hadrian is nothing if not obtuse.” That made Ephrim laugh.

“But you didn’t, like, look into me before inviting me to spend a week in a car with you.”

“If Hadrian vouches for you, I trust you.”

“With something this big? That’s it?”

He shrugged.

Ephrim shook his head in disbelief and took out his phone. “Dude, I tracked down as much info as I could about you before I got in your car. Which, to your credit, was not a ton of stuff.”

“What did you find?”

“Enough to inspire confidence.”

“What does that mean?”

Ephrim began reading a list from the notes on his phone. “Throndir: lumberjack with big dog, definitely supernatural but Hadrian won’t say what, good dog, possibly a werewolf, likes whiskey and beer, tips well, works at an auto shop, has a good dog, always returns his library books on time, has a nice dog, definitely isn’t a human but won’t say what he is, lives alone, has a cute dog.” He looked up. “The people like Kodiak.”

“Of course they do.” He smiled. “You know, that list was almost really nice until you pointed out that I live alone. Now you creep me out.”

“Hey, that’s extremely pertinent information.”

“Why, so when you kill me in the desert, nobody will notice I’m gone?”

“No, because it means you probably didn’t tell anyone I was coming with you.”

Throndir hummed. “And no, I’m not a werewolf.”

“Then what are you?”

He hesitated. 

“Come on, I showed you mine, you show me yours.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m a- well, I’m a sort of vampire.”

Ephrim raised his eyebrows. Apparently that hadn’t been the answer he was expecting. “What’s a sort of vampire?”

“No blood sucking, no bats, no allergy to garlic or crosses. But I do have to feed, from time to time, on people’s energy, feelings, whatever you want to call it. A life force of a different sort.”

“Okay.” Ephrim said. “So you’ll be the one killing me in the middle of the desert.”

“Definitely not. I don’t kill people.” 

Ephrim snorted. “We’re literally on a week-long road trip so you can murder your arch nemesis.”

Throndir laughed, drumming the top of the steering wheel, debating telling Ephrim one more thing.

Ephrim seemed to pick up on that, or just got lucky, because he found the exact thing to say. “Shame about the fangs though. They’re kind of hot.”

Throndir turned his head slightly, facing him but still watching the road. He grinned, and his fangs shot down from the sides of his mouth. “Vestigial, I guess.”

Ephrim laughed, a small blush on his cheeks. “I guess I did ask you to show me yours, huh.”

***

The first day of travel ends with a restaurant in the middle of nowhere between Los Angeles and Phoenix. It’s a little grimmy, but the burger Throndir orders is fantastic, so he’s willing to forgive them a little.

Ephrim and Throndir chat a bit. Making small talk felt weird, but necessary. Ephrim was probably right- he should have found out literally anything else about Ephrim before they set out. But, in his defense, hearing the stories from Ephrim himself was much better than getting them second hand could have ever been. His eyes lit up when he spoke, and he wasn’t afraid to use wide hand gestures and his whole body to properly tell the story.

So this was how Throndir learned why Ephrim had only brought a single backpack: he was used to moving around a lot, having grown up being taken care of by various family members across the United States. He didn’t have a lot to pack, and he knew he didn’t need to pack much. “It’s all clothes, basically,” he said with a laugh.

A break in the conversation quieted the two of them, until Ephrim spoke up. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You seem like a nice guy. Other people certainly think so.”

“Thank you?”

“What makes a nice guy like you drive across the country to confront someone like this?”

“He hurt someone I really cared about.” He sighed, tapping his fingers on his thighs under the table. “His name was Fantasmo,” he finally said. “We used to work together, when I was younger. God, I was so much younger then.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I looked up to him, so much. He was one of those people who acted like he didn’t care about anyone, but he would always answer my questions with an annoyed smile, you know? He was a badass, a wizard like nobody else I had ever met, he could save you or destroy you with a single word.”

“It sounds like you two were close.”

Ephrim meant the words kindly, he knew, but he couldn’t stop himself from blushing. 

“Oh,” Ephrim said quickly. “That wasn’t what I meant.”

“No, I, uh,” he stammered, fidgeting with the sleeve of his shirt. “He didn’t-- I was a lot younger than him. I don’t think he even realized that I-- well. You know.”

Ephrim gave him a knowing smile. “I think I actually met Fantasmo, once.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we robbed a museum together.”

“What?”

“It was more like, you know, we happened to need shit from the same museum.”

“God, I’m not going to even pretend to understand that.”

Ephrim just shrugged. “I’m sorry to hear about him. He seemed like a… Well, he seemed like a dick, but like he had earned the right to be a dick.”

He laughed. “Yeah, that’s Fantasmo.” He paused, not sure how to phrase his question. “So, is stealing things from museums a regular past time of yours, or what?”

“No, it was just the one time.”

“Okay, because I was beginning to wonder how you and Hadrian ever became friends.”

“Friends might not be the right word, to be honest.” Throndir leaned his head to the side, curious. He continued. “We are both leaders, but, uh, leaders of different sects, to use the church metaphor. How much do you know about The Church?”

“Hadrian’s given me pitch tons of times. I know they’re helping people, but I- I just don’t think it’s for me.”

“You’re not wrong to have a bad feeling about it,” he admitted. “Hadrian does the public facing stuff- helping new supernatural folks get on their feet, fostering community, yada yada yada.” He lowered his voice a little. “The people who pay for all that shit? That’s who I work for.”

“Okay,” he said. “Is that where you got your abilities?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Because that’s what you do with the kid you took in off the street- you give him magic fire powers.” 

Throndir snorted. That seemed to be the right response- Ephrim smiled just a bit, at the corners of his mouth. 

“So, Hadrian never got you to join up, then?”

Throndir swallowed. “This feels like a test.”

He laughed. “Of sorts. Just trying to tell if you also had a thing for Hadrian.”

Throndir felt his face heat up, and he knew he was blushing again. “That’s a yes,” Ephrim said, pointing.

“I just-- I mean--”

He held his hand up, still laughing. “You don’t have to explain yourself. He’s very easy on the eyes.”

“Like-- Have you ever seen him hold a sword?”

Ephrim raised an eyebrow. “No, I can’t say I’ve seen him hold his sword.”

Throndir collapsed on the table, head in his hands. Ephrim just sat there, giggling at him as he groaned about how that wasn’t what he meant. 

“Oh my god, okay, exactly how many of our mutual friends have you had a crush on? Is there anybody else I should know about?”

“Listen, the heart wants what the heart wants.”

“And apparently what your heart wants is literally any man who talks to you for longer than five minutes.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ve grown up since then. It takes at least twenty minutes now.” He grinned.

“I’m so proud of you.” Ephrim smirked. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you probably have a crush on me at this point.”

“Honestly?” Throndir took another sip of his drink. “Give it another two days.”

Ephrim cracked up, and Throndir pretended that it didn’t make his heart flutter, just a little.

***

This rest stop wasn’t any different from the other ones dotting the highway. Badly maintained restrooms, maybe one or two vending machines. Luckily, this one had a small grass area instead of just dirt, so Throndir left the car with a toy to stretch out his and Kodiak’s legs.

Ephrim had wandered off- probably to go use the bathroom. Kodiak bounded across the grass, jumping for the frisbee when he threw it. He ran it back, practically toppling Throndir over. 

Throndir tossed it again, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Ephrim going back to the car from behind the restrooms. That was a little weird. Ephrim looked at him, stone faced, and made a small gesture at the car.

“Come on, Kodiak,” he called, and the dog came back to him. They went to the car, Throndir beginning to worry. Ephrim had already climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Can I have the keys?”

“Sure,” Throndir said, not entirely sure why he was handing them over, but he did it anyway.

As soon as they had closed the doors behind them, Ephrim started driving towards the highway. “We’re going to drive west for a bit.”

Throndir frowned. “Why?”

Ephrim stared at the road. “To make sure she’s not following us.”

“Excuse me? Who? Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah, I’m fine.” Ephrim snorted, as if Throndir had asked a ridiculous question. “We should be fine, I think I got her to drop it. This is just a precaution.”

“Got  _ who _ to drop it?”

Ephrim took a moment to answer. “Her name, or at least the name she gave me, is Highwater. She’s Dark Son. And she was sent to find me.”

“Dark Son?”

“I told you I was involved in the shady sect of The Church. Some folks like to give it a name. Mobsters are very overdramatic.”

“Okay, well, is she going to be trouble?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t  _ think _ so?”

“She was sent to try to bring me back into the fold. She didn’t want anything to do with you or Arrell, and I didn’t tell her anything either.”

Throndir sighed. He was worried, both about himself and his new friend. “Ephrim, are you running away or are you being hunted?”

“Neither.” He tensed, gripping the wheel tight. “I’m getting out.”


	2. chapter two

“Can we pull over soon?”

Throndir huffed. “Do you have to pee again?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It is when I’m the one who has to pull over.”

“I  _ asked _ if you wanted me to drive!”

“And I told you not to get the large coffee, because you were going to have to pee every five minutes.”

Ephrim groaned. “Look, there’s a gas station at the next exit. Can we please just pull over?”

“You better not be like this the whole trip.” He sighed, but he clicked the blinker to move over to the exit lane.

“You say that like we’re in a rush.”

Throndir looked over. “Are you not taking this seriously?”

“I’m taking this seriously. But you’re the one who said he wasn’t going anywhere. I don’t think it matters if we get there at 6:03 on Friday instead of 6:00.”

“Sure, but if we push for an extra hour of driving every day, we can get there on Thursday instead.”

Ephrim lowered his sunglasses and looked at him. “I’m not doing that.”

“You’re not the one driving.”

“Because you won’t let me drive!”

Throndir pulled into the gas station. “You have two minutes. I’m timing you.”

Ephrim got out of the car, walking backward and flipping him off with both hands.

Throndir sighed, fiddling with the radio to keep him busy while he waited. He turned around to complain to Kodiak. “He’s being ridiculous.”

Kodiak’s only response was to roll over.

“Don’t tell me you’re taking his side.”

After what seemed like an eternity, but what his phone informed him was two minutes and thirty-two seconds, Ephrim returned.

“You’re late.”

Ephrim handed him a sweet tea and placed a bottle of iced coffee for himself in his cup holder. “And you’re welcome.”

“Oh.” Throndir was startled by the gesture. “Um, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem asshole.” 

Kodiak boofed in the back seat. “Sorry buddy,” he said, turning around to scratch his ears, “They didn’t have any dog treats.”

Throndir opened his drink and took a sip, watching Ephrim as he turned back around to buck his seatbelt. “You ready?” Ephrim asked, noticing him staring.

“Oh, yeah,” Throndir stuttered, and they were on the road again. “How’d you know I like these?”

“What? You’ve bought them almost every time we stop for snacks.”

“Oh.” He didn’t realize Ephrim had been paying so close attention to him. Or was he just overthinking this? “I cannot believe you got another coffee.”

“You should see me when I’m stressed.”

He laughed. “If it makes you have to pee again, I swear to God…”

“Oh, bite me,” Ephrim rolled his eyes.

“Not that kind of vampire.”

***

They had stopped for another dinner in another diner, continuing on route as planned. Ephrim was in the middle of a story about the six weeks he lived in Maine when their waitress approached the table, an enormous plate of fries in her hand.

“Excuse me, but are either of you named Prince?”

Throndir looked up at the waitress, confused. He was about to say no, but Ephrim reached for the plate, putting on a fake smile. “I’ll take that.”

“It’s from the folks over--” she turned over her shoulder to point at a table in the corner, but it was empty. “Huh. Well, at least they paid in advance. Enjoy.”

Throndir reached for a fry. “Prince?”

“Don’t eat that.” Ephrim’s face fell deadly serious. Throndir put his hand back down. Ephrim examined every inch of the plate.

“I’m pretty sure it’s just fries.”

“Not if they sent it to Prince,” he snapped. Unsatisfied, he pushed the plate into the center of the table. “We have to leave now. Tip extra, I don’t know if they made her do anything else.”

“What’s going on?”

“Dark Son’s here,” he muttered. “Prince is a-- a nickname. We need to leave.” For the first time, Throndir saw fear in Ephrim’s eyes.

“Okay.” Throndir put more than enough cash down on the table and grabbed his jacket. “Are we just leaving, or are we fighting?”

“I don’t know who they sent. A fight could be anywhere from a cakewalk to a bloodbath. We’re leaving.”

Throndir nodded, following Ephrim out of the restaurant. As soon as he was outside, an arm grabbed him, a second hand pressing a blade against his throat.

“Shit.” He heard Ephrim swear, turning around. “Let go of him.”

“Prince Ephrim, you have fallen out of line. We are here to return you.” They started walking him backwards, into the parking lot.

“Who’s we?” Ephrim barked.

The person holding Throndir chuckled. “You can see on the ride home.”

“Yeah, not gonna fucking happen.” Throndir threw his elbow backwards, catching his captor in the ribs. They staggered back in surprise. He took advantage of the opportunity, turning around to punch the Dark Son member in the face. He would have gone for another hit, but Ephrim yelped, and he turned around. Two more Dark Son had emerged from the shadows, hitting Ephrim on both sides.

“God, fuck off,” spat Ephrim, dodging their blows. He took a second to steady himself. His hand seemed to glow, until the light split off in both directions. Ephrim held a staff made of fire. His eyes burned the same golden color as his weapon. It was hard to take your eyes off of him. Everyone seemed to hesitate for a moment, watching Ephrim. He smirked. “Come get your Prince,” he snarled.

And then the fight was back on, and Throndir had to tear his eyes away in order to stop the blade coming at his side. It had been ages since he’d been in a proper fist fight. He couldn’t help wishing he had his gun, currently locked away in the trunk. The Dark Son member was fast, but Throndir had the vampire’s endurance on his side. They grimaced as he stopped their blade from slicing at his throat yet again. “I could do this all day,” he said, smug look on his face as he punched the arm up, freeing the knife. He caught it. “Luckily, I don’t have to.” With the upper hand, finishing them off was quick work. He relished momentarily, their body in his hands, taking the opportunity to feed.

He dropped the corpse to the gravel and looked over at Ephrim. Even with a magic fire staff, two on one fights were never fun. “Ephrim!” he called, trying to get him out of the way before throwing the knife at the Dark Son member on Ephrim’s right.

He ducked perfectly, sweeping low to catch the other with his staff and knock them off their feet. “Nice one,” Throndir breathed. 

“Your turn,” he said, looking over Throndir’s shoulder. Throndir ducked, and Ephrim whacked the air where his head had just been. The fire staff collided with someone behind him. He rolled away, and Ephrim made short work of their final attacker. 

When they were down, Ephrim dismissed his staff with a flick of his wrist. He reached down, offering Throndir a hand up. His hand was warm, but not nearly as warm as he expected, considering he had been  _ literally holding fire _ five seconds before. 

The golden light still burned in Ephrim’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Throndir dusted himself off. “Yeah, I don’t think they knew I was gonna be here, otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered with the knife. Are you good?”

He smirked, a little. “I’m good. I’m pissed, but I’m good.” Then the stoic face from when the plate of fries had arrived was back. “They know we’re here. We have to go.”

“Of course. Kodiak!” He called him back to his side and they all piled into the car, peeling out of the parking lot. 

***

His heart wouldn’t stop pounding. They were inside, they were safe, they had gotten away. But the adrenaline pumped away in Throndir’s veins. He could remember how close it had been-- could still feel the ache in his arm-- the heat in his hand-- wait.

That wasn’t his.

He looked up at Ephrim, staring at his reflection in the mirror in the tiny, tiny bathroom. Throndir knew he always needed a cool down after a fight. It would make sense that Ephrim had his own ritual. Throndir was usually much better about keeping the barriers up, blocking out the energies of the people around him. But two people, in a small space, both feeling overwhelmed in the same way, for the same reasons, was much harder to ignore.

He didn’t want any more bleeding between Ephrim’s emotions and his, and the easiest way he knew how to do that was physical distance. He stood up suddenly. “I’m going for a run.”

“Excuse me?” That had caught Ephrim’s attention. He walked back into the main room. “Absolutely not.”

Throndir rolled his eyes. “You are not going to tell me what to do right now. I’m having some vampire problems. I’m gonna go for a run.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He moved further into the room, bringing him closer to Throndir. “You can’t leave right now.”

Throndir struggled to explain how he was feeling. “I’m wound up and you’re wound up, which is just radiating off of you and making me even more like this. I have to get it out of my system or I’m gonna explode. I’ll be right back. I’ll take Kodiak with me.”

Ephrim stepped between him and the door. “We have to lie low, or they’re just going to keep coming for us.”

“Please, Ephrim, trust me on this one.”

“And trust me when I say that they can and will find us!”

“I just need to blow off some steam.”

Throndir hadn’t realized how close their faces had gotten. “I’m sure you can find a way to do that here.”

The comment threw him off balance, face red at the possibilities of what Ephrim had meant. He knew he wasn’t kidding about not letting him leave, and it certainly wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it. His eyes dipped down to Ephrim’s lips -- traitors. Ephrim saw, he totally saw, because he smirked, and that was it. Throndir closed the gap, pushing him against the door, and kissed him, fast and messy.

Ephrim’s hands were on him at once, fingers grabbing a hold in his hair. Throndir sighed into his mouth. He pulled again, harder, and this time Throndir groaned. Ephrim shifted one hand around his waist, pulling him in closer. The other one went to hold Throndir’s face, a gesture that might have been tender if he hadn’t also been biting Throndir’s lip. 

Throndir caught his wrist and pinned it above his head on the door. Grinning, Ephrim tested the his grip, but Throndir held steady. “I was going to tell you to keep that there,” he said, voice low, “but I don’t know that I can trust you to actually do that.” His other hand moved to Ephrim’s chest, unbuttoning the top of his shirt.

Throndir remembered their first exchange about his vampirism in the car and had an idea. He pushed Ephrim’s shirt aside, exposing his neck and his collarbone, and then revealed his fangs. He dragged them slowly down Ephrim’s neck, feeling him shiver underneath. He nipped at his collarbone, and Ephrim gasped. Throndir grinned, thrilled to be right, and left a small bite on the other side of his neck.

“Throndir,” he whispered, free hand tightening around his side. Throndir took that hand and joined it with the other, holding both wrists above Ephrim’s head with one hand. With the other, he finished unbuttoning Ephrim’s shirt. He looked gorgeous like this, pink lips gone slack, eyes watching Throndir’s movements with hunger and anticipation.

But telling him that might be a little too much, so instead Throndir kissed his open mouth. Ephrim kissed him back, leaning into it as much as he could with his hands pinned. “Do you want me to let go?” Throndir asked. “Like, for real.”

“No, no, I like them up there.”

“Okay.” Throndir smiled. He ran his other hand across Ephrim’s now bare chest, teasing around his nipples. Ephrim bit his lip.

“Something you want to say?” he asked, eyebrows raised, as he moved his hand to the other nipple.

“Just never would have pegged you as the ‘pin your lover against the wall’ type.”

Throndir frowned. “Are you not enjoying this?”

He laughed. “No, I’m enjoying this immensely. You’re just usually in this mode,” he said, waving his hand at Throndir’s current concerned demeanor. “I thought you would be asking me to hold you down.”

“There is a time and a place for both,” he said, blushing. “And that’s not where that hand belongs.”

“Yes, sir,” Ephrim smirked, slowly raising his arm back over his head. Throndir snuck in another quick kiss, then went back to leaving pink bite marks across Ephrim’s neck and chest. Ephrim gasped with each one. He certainly wasn’t afraid to let Throndir know just how much he liked this, and every noise made Throndir more wanting, more desperate.

His mouth wandered down to kiss and bite at Ephrim’s hips. The tattoo he had seen before wasn’t a flame, but a crashing wave. He looked up at Ephrim, eyes closed and face red. Throndir didn’t need to reach out for his emotions to know how he was feeling. He pulled back and grinned.

Ephrim opened his eyes at the lack of stimulation, as Throndir’s fingertips hovered around his waistband. “You want me to ask for it, don’t you?”

Throndir stood up and began to unbutton his own shirt, slowly. “It would be nice.”

Ephrim’s eyes followed Throndir’s hands, devouring every inch of exposed skin. God, it had been ages since anyone had looked at him like that. He pulled off his shirt completely, and Ephrim’s hands were on him, exploring each bit with his fingers like Throndir had been doing with his mouth before, bodies working in tandem for the second time that night. Throndir wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but as he kissed him, skin to skin, it felt like heat radiated off Ephrim.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Throndir wondered if temperature play was a thing Ephrim was into, what with the fire and all. But he wasn’t about to break this up to ask. Maybe next time, he thought -- although, there probably wasn’t going to be a next time.

Instead, he broke off the kiss, growling low in Ephrim’s ear. “You still haven’t asked.”

“I’m getting the feeling that you’ll do it, even if I don’t say it.”

“Mouthy.” Throndir bit the soft part just under his jawline.

“You like me mouthy,” Ephrim responded, grinning.

He couldn’t think anything to say that wasn’t terribly embarrassing, but luckily he didn’t have to.

“Throndir,” he said, catching his gaze and holding it. “I want you to fuck me. Please.”

Throndir grinned, and he dropped to his knees.


	3. an early morning interlude

Ephrim wakes up first. He finds himself curled around Throndir’s side, hand on his bare chest. He stills, resisting the urge to run his fingertips up and down his brown skin. He takes a selfish moment to just  _ look  _ at Throndir: his long eyelashes, his broad shoulders. There’s a tattoo wrapping around his bicep that he didn’t notice before. He wonders what it is, but he can’t quite see it from this angle, and he doesn’t dare move. 

For a second, he contemplates pretending to go back to sleep, to see what Throndir would do if he saw them like this (and to be able to stay like this longer). But he decides against it-- for one, it seems a little manipulative considering Throndir’s treated him with nothing but kindness; for two, he already put the guy through the ringer with last night’s ambush; and for three, he’s pretty confident that Throndir’s reaction would be to stammer and blush all cute, and he’d rather make that happen without any residual guilt.

It would be dishonest for Ephrim to say that getting out of the bed is an easy choice. Which surprises him-- he’s not one to linger. But he does break away and tug on jeans and a shirt. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stops. Throndir has left marks up and down his neck, across his collarbone. He traces his finger lightly over them. They’re still tender. The pink and purple spots stand out on his pale skin. 

He glances behind him, at the still sleeping Throndir, with a smirk. He doesn’t own a single shirt that’ll cover them all, and quite frankly, he doesn’t care. Part of him is sure that they’ll never talk about this again. Another part wants to ask if Throndir will mark him up again tonight.

He notices Kodiak is awake too, so he rummages through Throndir’s backpack to find the leash. While he’s there, he grabs the red flannel Throndir has in there: it’s soft, it’s comfortable, and it’ll stop him from completely scandalizing the outside world. He notices that it smells like Throndir, woodsy and rich, but he doesn’t let himself dwell on that. It’s not until he’s about to leave that he realizes the problem with leaving Throndir completely alone. So he scrawls a note onto the motel branded pad of paper:

_ Went to get coffee & take Kodiak out. Should be back by 9:30. _

_ -Ephrim _

He steps out, Kodiak in tow, into the brisk morning air. There’s a gas station about a block away, and once again gas station coffee will have to do. God, the things he would do for an actual cappuccino right now. 

It’s a nice, short walk. It’s a sunny day. He’s sure that later in the stuffy car, the heat will be miserable, but for now the clear skies are a gift. Kodiak is good company— Ephrim gets the sense that he would have been fine without the leash. He grabs two coffees, making sure to get plenty of cream and sugar for Throndir, then heads back to the motel. 

By the time he gets back, Throndir is dressed (unfortunately). When Ephrim opens the door, he turns around and smiles.

“Hey buddy,” he says to Kodiak, kneeling down to say hello. “Good walk?”

“He’s very well trained.”

Throndir straightens up. “Of course he is.”

Ephrim sticks out his arm. “Coffee?”

“Oh, thank you,” he says, as if he’s surprised, as if he hasn’t gone to get Ephrim coffee twice this trip already, as if it wasn’t time for him to return the favor.

“Of course,” Ephrim smiles.

“I really appreciate this, I do, but...” Throndir fully looks at him for the first time this morning and stops. “You’re wearing my shirt.”

“Oh, right.” Ephrim knows that he’s blushing as he takes it off and gives it back to him. “Sorry.”

“No no, it’s okay. It, uh…” Ephrim can see his eyes dip down to his neck, can see the realization form on his face. He rubs the back of his own neck, stammering. (It  _ is  _ very cute, as Ephrim had expected.) “I, um. I was hoping we could grab food before we left? I need a proper breakfast.”

Ephrim can’t help but raise his eyebrows. “Proper breakfast?”

“Yeah, I would kill for some pancakes and hashbrowns right now.”

He’s almost too easy to tease. “All right, I’ll steer clear.”

“No, what, you should obviously come-- goddamn it,” he says, finally catching up. “I already told you, I’m not that kind of vampire.”

“I don’t know, man, I’m not here to judge. I think there’s a Denny’s between here and the highway.”

“Perfect.”

“And Google says we’re only twenty miles out from the nearest blood bank.” He grins. Throndir smacks him with the nearest pillow.


	4. chapter three

Throndir fidgeted nervously in his seat at Denny’s, having basically ordered one of everything on the menu. He didn’t know how Ephrim could be so casual about this. He was doing his very best to act natural, but he kept having flashes of what he and Ephrim had done the night before. He hadn’t thought Ephrim would be interested in him like that. He also hadn’t thought through what the rest of the trip would be like afterwards.

He stole a glance at Ephrim. They were going to be stuck in a very small car together for another four days. He didn’t know how he was going to manage that.

Ephrim finally looked up from where he had been drumming his fingertips on the table. “Can we talk about last night?”

Throndir’s eyes widened a little bit -- surely Ephrim would have told him if he could read minds, right? -- but his mouth was full of pancakes, so he just nodded.

He sighed. “I want to apologize. When I agreed to go on this trip with you-- I didn’t have any intention of that happening. I don’t want to get you mixed up in any of my bullshit.”

Throndir’s heart sank. More and more, he had started thinking that maybe he wouldn’t mind being a little mixed up in Ephrim’s bullshit.

“It should be a one and done thing. I don’t think it’ll happen again.”

Of course. He should have known. But had he really been reading Ephrim so wrong last night? “I thought you enjoyed it,” he managed to say.

“What?” Ephrim looked genuinely confused. It felt like a punch to the gut. “I mean, I like beating up assholes as much as the next guy, but I can’t say I  _ enjoyed _ \-- Oh.” He froze, and then started to laugh. “Oh, Throndir, no, I was talking about the fight.”

“Oh.” Throndir rubbed the back of his neck, probably blushing.

“Yeah, no, I’m not apologizing for  _ that _ . And neither should you. That was great,” he said, pointing at Throndir with his fork as he spoke. Throndir was definitely blushing now. He couldn’t help but glance back down at the dark pink bite sticking out under Ephrim’s neckline. “I’m talking about the part where Dark Son showed up to kidnap me.”

“I don’t think you need to apologize for that either.”

“I do.” He sighed. “I didn’t think anyone knew that I had left. I underestimated them-- literally the number one thing I always say not to do.”

“Well, now we know better. We’ll be ready for them next time.”

Ephrim put his head in his hands. “I don’t want there to be a next time. Arrell seems dangerous enough, the last thing we need is the fucking mob on our tail.”

“We can be more careful,” he said. “Start paying in cash, stop using our phones.”

Ephrim nodded, playing with his food but not eating it.

“Can I ask you something about the Dark Son?”

“Yeah. I think you’ve more than earned some answers. What do you want to know?”

“Well, for starters, why do they call you Prince Ephrim?”

“It started when I was a kid. They were raising me to continue on The Church’s work. I was the future of the organization, and our leader, Samothes, kind of took me under his wing. He called me his prince. It stuck.” He stabbed a piece of ham. “I hate it.”

“So Samothes is a person? Like, flesh and blood?”

“I’m not sure what’s under his skin, but presumably.”

“When Hadrian talks about Samothes, it sounds more like a concept, a way of life. Not like a single guy.”

“Most of The Church have never met Samothes. For them, it is just that.”

“Hadrian spends all this time working for this guy, but he’s never even met him?”

Ephrim shrugged. “He certainly thinks he has.”

Throndir stared at him for a moment. “Wow, I hate this.” Ephrim started to laugh. “I hate all of this. You are literally validating years worth of apprehension and distrust. Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Ephrim grinned. He leaned his head to toss his hair to the side, which exposed more of the bites Throndir had left last night. His mind stuttered to a halt. He had pulled his fangs out for Ephrim’s benefit, but in the moment he hadn’t considered how pretty the marks would be. Now, they were all he could think about. “What else do you want to know?” he asked, as if Throndir was in any state to answer questions.

“I don’t think I know what questions to ask.” There. That was an honest answer.

“I guess that’s fair,” Ephrim sighed. “But I don’t just want to talk at you.”

“I don’t mind.” He smiled. “You’re really good at telling stories. I like listening to you.”

“Oh.” A blush sprung on Ephrim’s cheeks. “Thank you.”

Throndir spent the rest of breakfast enraptured in Ephrim’s story, and definitely not looking at his neck, or his lips, or his hands, or his neck.

***

Throndir’s eyes opened, suddenly, as he was thrust out of the nightmare. He checked the clock on the nightstand: 3:27 AM. “Fuck,” he whispered into the darkness.

He was safe, everyone was safe, he would be okay. At this point, he knew the rituals for dealing with this.

Across the room, Ephrim shifted in his sleep. Okay, so usually he was alone for these, but he would be fine. He’d be back before Ephrim even knew he was gone. 

He slipped out the door quietly. Sometimes, when he had nights like this, he would take Kodiak with him, but he was sleeping too, and getting him would surely wake Ephrim up. The cool night air made things feel better already. More stable. He paced up and down the line of doors, then finally took a seat under the window to their room.

Deep breaths, in and out. Focus on the breeze on your face, the concrete under your legs. This is real. Nightmares are not.

“Throndir?” The door to their room cracked open, and Ephrim, wearing a t-shirt, boxers, and a gaudy silk robe, poked his head out.

“Hey.” He didn’t make eye contact.

“You know it’s like, 3 AM, right?”

“Go back to bed.”

Ephrim did the opposite of that, closing the door and sitting down next to him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” He looked Ephrim up and down. “You only brought one backpack’s worth of material possessions with you, but that made the cut?”

“Don’t try to give me fashion advice.” His teasing words were betrayed by the concerned look on his face. Again, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“I had a bad dream. I’m fine. Go back to bed.”

He sighed. “Throndir, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you don’t look fine.”

“Fuck you.”

He expected that to get another quip out of Ephrim, but he didn’t take the bait. Instead, he just stared at him. Even with his face cast mostly in shadow, his eyes stood out, as though they were speaking for him. They asked him again to tell him what was wrong.

Throndir sighed. “I should have known.”

Ephrim frowned. “Should have known what?”

“You’d think I would have been able to recognize the signs. Experimenting, plotting, literally stealing people’s lives away. If I hadn’t been so young, so naïve, so--” He cut himself off, pushing his hands into the cool concrete. “I should have known. I could have stopped this earlier, could have stopped Arrell, and now--”

“No.” Ephrim’s voice sounded certain and solid. “Cut that shit out.”

He turned to face him. “Excuse me?”

“None of this is your fault. You didn’t do those terrible things, Arrell did. And he deserves to pay for them, not you.” He rested his hand on Throndir’s shoulder. “There’s clearly a lot I’m missing here. But I know you, and the kind of things you do, and I can promise you that none of this is on you. Don’t let them twist you into paying for their cruelty.”

Throndir didn’t respond. He wondered if Ephrim could feel how shaky his breath still was.

“Do you want to stay out here, or go inside?”

“I need another minute.”

“Okay,” Ephrim said softly, his hand dropping off of his shoulder. Throndir reached out to grab it-- Ephrim’s presence was grounding.

“Can I…” Throndir wasn’t sure how to phrase his question, but Ephrim understood.

“Of course.”

Throndir laced their fingers together, and they sat in silence for another five minutes, Throndir taking deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Ephrim didn’t try to ask any more questions. He just sat, occasionally rubbing his thumb over Throndir’s hand.

When Throndir was ready to try to go back to sleep, he stood up, squeezing Ephrim’s hand before letting go. “Thank you.”

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Just sleep.” The whole thing had taken so much out of him. “Hopefully uninterrupted this time.”

The next morning, Ephrim offered to drive again. This time, Throndir finally said yes.

***

“Hey, uh, Throndir? Throndir. Wake up.”

Ephrim shook his shoulder, jostling him awake in the passenger seat. Somewhere along the drive, he had fallen asleep in the warm and peaceful car. Now, it was rattling in a way it was definitely not supposed to.

“What the fuck did you do to my car?” He rubbed his eyes.

“I didn’t do anything! I promise!”

Throndir glared at him, but said, “All right, pull over.”

Ephrim did, swearing up and down that he hadn’t done anything. Throndir got out and popped the hood. Ephrim followed. Kodiak opted to stay in the shady backseat.

Throndir studied the interior, distracted by the feeling of Ephrim examining his face. “Can you go get my tools out of the trunk?”

“Yeah, of course.”

He took a moment to breathe without the intensity of Ephrim’s stare, then, tools in hand, began the work of trial and error to figure out what was wrong with the car.

Inside, the heat had been kind, lulling him to sleep, but outside it beat down harshly. He quickly stripped off his flannel, tying it around his waist and leaving only a white tank top on. Before too long, Ephrim was on his right side, close but not touching. Even still, Throndir swore it got hotter when Ephrim came closer. He radiated heat like the sun above.

“It’s a forest,” Ephrim murmured, examining the tattoo on his right bicep.

Throndir looked over at him. “Yeah. I actually have an appointment to add to it when we-- when I get back.”

Ephrim didn’t acknowledge his slip. “So, you’re confident that you’re coming back, then.”

“Of course I am.”

Ephrim reached out, holding his arm gently. “I didn’t get a good enough look at it the other day. It’s so intricate.”

“You could have asked to see it.”

A smirk. “I knew I wouldn’t need to.”

“God, if you sabotaged my car in an elaborate scheme to get me to take my shirt off, I will eat you.”

Ephrim threw back his head and laughed. “I wish I was that clever.”

“I think you’re pretty clever.”

“Oh, now you’re just flattering me.”

“You’re the one hanging onto my arm. Talk about flattery.” Throndir gave him a sly grin. “Hand me that wrench, would you?”

It didn’t take Throndir long to get the car running again, especially with Ephrim serving as assistant. “My hero,” Ephrim swooned, clutching his arm again and grinning dramatically. 

“Get back in the car,” Throndir said, rolling his eyes.

***

That night, Ephrim and Throndir faced their worst motel experience yet:

“I’m sorry, but your dog can’t be in here.”

“Excuse me?” Throndir narrowed his eyes.

“We don’t allow dogs in the rooms,” the attendant behind the counter repeated.

“Throndir moved to say something sharper, but Ephrim grabbed him by the arm, holding him back. “No worries,” Ephrim said with a fake smile. “We’ll take care of him.”

“Thank you,” the attendant said, deliberately handing Ephrim the keys to the room. “Check out is at noon.”

Ephrim nodded at her, and showed Throndir and Kodiak out of the lobby.

“What do they mean, dogs aren’t allowed in the rooms?”

“Relax,” Ephrim said, sliding his hand up to Throndir’s shoulder. “We are two very capable people. We can get him into the room.”

“How?”

Ephrim grinned. “I have an idea. Wait here.”

Throndir leaned against the car, much less patient than Kodiak, who was happily laying out on the curb. After a few minutes, he got a text:

> Ephrim: meet me around back

Skeptical, he took Kodiak around and found Ephrim with a cleaning cart. He lifted the sheet draped over the side with a flourish. “Ta da!”

“You’re joking.” Throndir gave him a look. “Will he even fit?”

“Sure he will. You distract the lady at the front desk, and I’ll push him in. Then we’ll say that they left the cleaning cart in our room, and they’ll never know.”

Throndir sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Do you have a better idea?” Ephrim raised an eyebrow.

“No,” he admitted. He took a moment to think it over. Kodiak walked over to sit next to Ephrim and the cart, making his allegiances clear.

“All right,” Throndir gave in. “But can we switch? I think you’re the charismatic one here.”

Ephrim clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ll make a lovely distraction.”

Well, it was hard to say no to Ephrim with his heart in his throat. He brushed off his shirt, sighed, and turned to go back to the counter.

He opened the door to the lobby. “Hi.”

The clerk looked up. “Hello,” she said, in that tone of forced politeness. Clearly, she wasn’t thrilled to have Throndir back in her lobby.

“Uh…” he stammered. “I’m sorry. For being so testy earlier.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. ‘No dogs allowed’ isn’t exactly my favorite policy to enforce.”

“I get it.” He had an idea, and pulled out the map from his back pocket. “Could you help me with this? I need to plan out where we’re going next.”

“Don’t you have a cell phone?” She looked at him as if he was an alien.

“Well, you know, the highway, don’t always get reception.”

“Sure.” Whether she was convinced or not, she leaned over the counter to look at the map. “Where are you trying to go?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ephrim beginning the trek to the room with Kodiak. He kept pointing to random places on the map and asking questions, hoping her interest wouldn’t wane more than it already was. At one point, she stood up from the table and said, “I hope I’ve been helpful, but I have to go make my rounds now.”

“Wait!” he said. Ephrim was almost in the room. “Wait, can you tell me how to get to this road?” He pointed at a random spot on the map, some blue squiggle.

She sighed slightly, and bent down to see what he was pointing at. “You can’t drive there.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because that’s a river,” she deadpanned.

“Oh,” said Throndir, embarrassed.

“And if you’ll excuse me, I do really need to go check on the ice machine now.”

“Of course. Thank you for your time.”

She walked out without another word to him, turning around just as Ephrim had shut the door behind him. He breathed out a sigh of relief: success.

“Okay,” Throndir called as he entered the room, after Ephrim had spoken to her about the cart being mysteriously left in their room. “You have to talk to her the rest of the time we’re here. She probably hates me now.”

Ephrim laughed. “Sounds like you were a perfect distraction.”

A line about serving as a perfect distraction for Ephrim certainly crossed Throndir's mind, but he took too long debating whether it was too cheesy and the moment passed. Ephrim dipped out to go get ice, and Throndir put his head in his hands, wondering why he felt so flustered.

***

The day after was a quiet day of driving. The sun was setting, and Throndir was the only one awake in the car. Kodiak had curled up in the backseat, and Ephrim had dozed off at some point. He leaned against the door as he slept, everything calm and quiet for the moment. Throndir glanced over at him and smiled. The day’s last rays of sun framed him gorgeously, glinting off his golden jewelry. He had grabbed Throndir’s flannel from the backseat, claiming that he was cold but none of his own jackets would match his outfit. Frankly, the outfit was all black, and Throndir was no fashion icon, but he was pretty sure any jacket would match. But he didn’t mind the way Ephrim snuggled into the well-worn sleeves, wrapping the just-too-big flannel tight around his torso.

Throndir turned his attention back to the road, a feeling of warmth lingering in his chest. He was glad Ephrim could have this moment of peace. Their trip had been long and difficult, and they weren’t even there yet.

And then Throndir realized how much he had been thinking about him and Ephrim together as ‘they’, a team, a unit, a partnership. He looked over at Ephrim again, his heart beginning to pick up speed in his chest.

Oh, Throndir was fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everybody who's been getting excited about this fic with me (especially mab-- this would never have been written without your constant support <3) the last three chapters will go up uhhh... when they're done. lmao.
> 
> you can find me on twitter @angstcaffeine


	5. chapter four

“You’ve never been to Waffle House?” Ephrim asked again, apparently still in disbelief at the answer.

“I’ve lived on the west coast my whole life! We don’t have them!”

“That’s no excuse.” 

Throndir rolled his eyes. “Is the food actually that good?”

“No, it’s about the  _ experience. _ ”

“What on earth does that mean?”

Ephrim laughed and did not answer, instead directing him off the highway for lunch.

Once they were seated, the gleeful smile on Ephrim’s face from introducing Throndir to something new disappeared into a more serious look that he was beginning to recognize as a warning of danger. “Don’t look now, but I think that guy in the corner is watching us.” Ephrim glanced to something behind Throndir, then looked back at him.

Throndir ignored his advice completely, turning around to see who was there.

“Oh my god, what did I literally just say?” Ephrim groaned. But Throndir wasn’t listening. His eyes were trained on the small man sitting in the corner booth.

“That motherfucker,” he whispered, low and sharp. Without warning, he stood up and approached his table, ignoring the panicked whispers from Ephrim.

“Isaac Adleton,” he growled. “I had wondered where you had ran off to.”

“Oh, hello Throndir, didn’t see you there.”

Throndir leaned on the table. “I know you’re lying.”

“Not lying. Just trying to eat my lunch.”

“Did he send you to spy on me?”

“Don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Isaac,” Throndir said, drumming his fingertips on the table. “Things have changed a lot since we last met.” He let his jacket fall open, revealing the golden gun on his hip.

“Oh my,” was the only thing he said.

Throndir slid into the seat across from him. “So, did Arrell send you to spy on me?”

“Oh, you were talking about Arrell before,” Isaac said quickly, probably lying. “I haven’t talked to the Tutor in months.”

“Oh, is he going by Tutor again?” Throndir feigned a casual tone. Man, Ephrim was really starting to rub off on him. “That’s new.”

“Oh, that’s not new-- you know-- old habits.” This time he was definitely lying, and he knew that Throndir could see through it. “Are you looking for him? I could help you find him. You know me, I’m always looking to help people out.”

“No, see Isaac, the problem is that I do know you.” He leaned forward. “And your old habits include lying, being an accomplice to kidnapping and murder, and in general being kind of a dick. So this is what we’re going to do. You’ll tell Arrell that you haven’t found us, but you’re pretty sure that we’re looking for him in Oregon or something. And in exchange...” Throndir revealed his fangs now. “I won’t eat you.”

“You drive a hard bargain.” Isaac seemed to sit for a moment, thinking. “But so does he.” In an instant, Throndir was surrounded by a thick smoke. He reached forward, trying to grab Isaac, but he had already started to run.

“Ephrim!” he called.

“On it,” he responded.

Throndir finally emerged from the smoke to see Ephrim holding out a lighter, the flame coming out in a thin rope, wrapping around Isaac’s hands and ankles.

“Hi,” Ephrim said, catching the eye of the nearest server. “Could you evacuate everybody? Thanks.”

“Ephrim, that’s rad as hell but it’s not going to--” 

With a flash, the appearance of Isaac’s hands changed. Suddenly, he wore black gloves, and could pick up the fire chaining around his wrists and move it. 

“--hold him,” Throndir finished, deflated.

“Excuse me?” Ephrim yelled, another ribbon of fire coming out of the lighter to wrap him again.

With his hands free, Isaac grabbed a plate off a nearby table and threw it at them. Mid-air, the plate split into a hundred tiny black wriggling pieces-- spiders.

Ephrim ducked to avoid them. “What the hell is this guy’s deal?”

“Illusion magic.” Throndir picked up one of the spiders, and it disappeared with a puff of smoke.

“Okay,” Ephrim said, buckling down for a fight. “So is that real or not?”

Throndir looked back in front of him to see Isaac mutating a butter knife, growing it until it resembled an actual sword. “Fake. Probably.”

“I don’t like probably.”

“Yeah, well, nobody likes Isaac,” Throndir said, pulling his gun out of his holster. 

Isaac deflected it with his knife-sword just in time. “Now listen, I’m sure we can work something out.”

Throndir fired again, this time Isaac flattened himself against the floor - literally - to avoid the shot. He jumped up onto the counter, brandishing his sword in what he must have thought was an intimidating manner. “I’m not afraid to use this, you know.”

“Could have fooled me,” snarked Ephrim. He closed the lighter and brought out his own flaming sword from his hand. “Shall we duel, then?”

“Ah.” Isaac glanced from Throndir’s golden pistol to Ephrim’s fire sword. “Again I say, we can work out a deal.”

“I don’t really do deals.” Ephrim stepped forward, clearly much more practiced than sword fighting than Isaac.

“Well, then, I guess I’ll be seeing you around.” Isaac grabbed a handful of spaghetti from one of the plates on the counter and flung it. As it flew, the noodles stretched, forming a rope and tying itself above the door. Before either of them could react, he had swung above their heads and out the door, making a break for it.

“I fucking hate that guy,” huffed Throndir.

“Understandable.” Sirens rang in the distance. “We should get out of here.”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely.” They booked it out the back door, Kodiak on their heels. As Throndir drove away, the dread began to gnaw away at him-- surely Arrell would be expecting them now.

***

For the first time since leaving California, they hit serious traffic, the highway coming to an absolute standstill out of nowhere. Ephrim leaned his head out of the window in an attempt to see how far the blockade went.

Throndir rolled his eyes, frustrated, and fiddled with the radio to distract himself. 

“I’m bored.” Ephrim unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed through the car to the backseat, curling up beside Kodiak. “I’m taking a nap.”

“No, stay awake with me, don’t leave me alone to deal with this shit…” Throndir whined.

“You’ll be fine. Kodiak, move, you’re laying on my arm--”

But Ephrim was interrupted by a knocking on the window. Throndir looked back over his shoulder, and a woman in a leather jacket and motorcycle helmet stood at his door. Kodiak growled at her. She knocked again, gloved hand rapping on the glass. “Ephrim, open up.”

They both froze. “Do you have your gun?” Ephrim asked in a low voice. He nodded. He had started keeping it on him since that second night, when it became clear that their trip was not going to be smooth sailing.

“Okay. I’m going to roll down my window now.” Ephrim did so, sliding over to the seat behind Throndir and rolling it down halfway. “Hey there,” he said, a fake smile on his face. “How can I help you?”

“Ephrim, please step out of the car.”

“Sorry, what was that? It’s hard to hear you through the helmet.”

The woman paused for a moment, then flicked her visor up, leaning closer to the car. “I said, get out of the fucking car.”

Throndir could see her now, and the fact that he didn’t immediately recognize her scared him. She wasn’t human, she had blue skin-- no, not exactly, she had blue  _ scales _ , and her face came out to a pointed snout. Despite her language, she seemed reserved and calm, like following people on motorcycles and being threatening was her job. Then Throndir remembered what Ephrim was getting out of, and realized it probably was her job.

Ephrim sighed. “Highwater. Always a pleasure.”

“I wish I could say the same.” She looked over at the stopped traffic, then back at Ephrim. “It looks like you have a bit of time to chat.”

“He’s not going anywhere--” Throndir snarled.

“Hey.” Ephrim leaned over, squeezing his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ll be right back.”

Ephrim opened his car door, against Throndir’s protests, and followed Highwater off the highway. Throndir watched them in the rearview mirror, gun in his lap. Then he blinked, and they were gone, and everything was quiet except for the radio.

He turned it off, hitting the dash with much more force than was probably necessary. Kodiak barked in the backseat, looking out the half-open window.

“It’s okay,” Throndir said, trying to calm down Kodiak and also himself, “Ephrim has things under control. He’s dealt with her before. He’s going to be okay.”

Ahead of him, the traffic began to thin out, and he wondered whether the entire jam had been a ploy from Dark Son. “Shit,” he said, starting back up the car and pulling over as soon as he could. He looked out the mirror, but there was no sign of Ephrim or Highwater or the motorcycle she surely must have been riding. He turned the gun over in his hands. He wasn’t used to feeling trapped like this, powerless to protect Ephrim or do anything. 

And then there he was, appearing where certainly he couldn’t have been before. Ephrim opened the door to the passenger seat and sat down, letting out a breath. “Let’s go.”

“What the fuck just happened? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, can we just--”

“Did she hurt you?”

He laughed, hollow and without feeling. “No. She’s a very good assassin, which means if she wanted me dead I would be, so, you know, good news.”

“I can’t believe you went off with her, why the fuck would you--”

“Because she would have hurt you if I stayed!” Ephrim’s eyes burned bright, like they did whenever he pulled fire out of his hands. “She wants me, they want me, but they’ve always been okay with a little collateral damage.”

“So if this assassin wants to hurt you so badly, how come you’re still here? What happened?”

Ephrim swallowed. “I made a deal.”

“You what?”

“I traded Highwater. I bought us some time with information.” He looked ahead, face stoic. “She knows where you’re dropping me off now.”

“Ephrim, you--”

“She promises they won’t intervene until after we meet up with Arrell.” Ephrim let out a long breath. “It’s fine. I told her I would come quietly, but obviously that’s a lie. I’ve dodged them before, I can do it again.”

“Ephrim.”

“What?” he asked, voice sharp.

And before he knew what he was doing, Throndir’s fists were in Ephrim’s shirt, and he was pulling him in for a kiss. Ephrim kissed him back, and that alone deserved celebration. Eventually, he had to pull away, breathless, hands still on him. “Please don’t do anything that reckless again. Please.”

“You should know by now that I can’t promise that.” Ephrim stared at him, not moving an inch away. “We have to drive, Throndir. Like, now.”

“Okay, yeah, yeah, of course.” He frantically put his seat belt on and got ready to drive away, trying to push down his feelings until they were out of danger. But Ephrim leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, making that very hard to do. He gripped the steering wheel tight as he sped away. 

The following car ride was tense and quiet. They found the first motel they could and pulled into the parking lot, sun beginning to set. He parked the car, and they sat in silence. Throndir bounced his leg up and down, worried that he had completely fucked everything up.

Ephrim ran his hand through his hair. “I want to make sure that you know that I’m all the way in on this.”

“Of course,” he nodded. “I know what you did. I know what you sacrificed. I’ll make sure it wasn’t in vain.”

Ephrim rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I am going to see this Arrell thing all the way through. Not just because he’s an evil asshole, but because you are the one going up against him.” He played with his necklace, seemingly having trouble figuring out what to say. “I have known you for a grand total of what, six days? In that time, you have become the person I trust the most, somehow, between the diner meals and wizard battles and our incredible inability to find a real coffee shop.”

Ephrim laughed a little, took a deep breath, and continued. “And while all this is happening, I’m literally on my way to go into hiding. I’m doing this thing that I have been wanting to do-- needing to do-- while simultaneously finding someone who makes me want to feel seen in a way I haven’t felt in a long fucking time. And I can’t figure out how those two connect. I don’t know if they  _ can _ connect. I can’t reconcile the way I feel about you and what I need to do to get out of the Dark Son’s shadow. But I can’t stay in The Church anymore. And I can’t pretend to not have feelings for you.”

Throndir had no idea what to say. He wanted to reach out, to grab Ephrim’s hand or kiss him again, but he felt like that might go against what he had just said.

So instead he asked: “What do you want to do?”

“In general, or right now?”

“Right now.”

Ephrim sighed. “Right now, I would love to go eat something.”

“We passed a taqueria on the way here?”

“Perfect.”

Throndir put the car into reverse and drove out of the parking lot. “I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been craving nachos this entire trip. I love a good diner, but I think I’ve had enough burgers for a good long while.” He glanced over, hoping his nervous chatter was calming Ephrim and not making him, well, more nervous.

“Mm-hmm,” Ephrim said distantly. “So are we just ignoring my existential crisis, or…”

“I always find it easier to make decisions on a full stomach.” Throndir smiled at him. “We have time. You don’t need to have every feeling of yours sorted right this second.”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Also…” Throndir continued, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, summoning his courage. “I just want you to know that I have feelings for you too. In case that changes how you think about things.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured when you pulled me in for a very dramatic kiss.”

“All right, fuck off.” He laughed.

The taqueria was great. Throndir ordered a plate of nachos that ended up being the size of Kodiak. Ephrim insisted on trying every single kind of taco the place had to offer. They had a great time, laughing at everything, as if they hadn’t bargained for their lives an hour before. Their knees knocked together under the table as they talked. More than once, Throndir could have sworn that Ephrim was staring at his lips while they talked. Before, Throndir would have assumed it was just his imagination getting his hopes up. Now he knew better, but he didn’t know what to do about it.

Ephrim, always the talker, found out from the guy at the counter that there was a supernatural bar in town. Neither of them wanted to settle down for the night yet, so Ephrim drove them over.

So much of this trip had been spent in isolation. There was a warmth, a fuzzy feeling, from being around people, especially people like them. It was the best Throndir had felt in ages. 

Throndir went to grab them drinks as Ephrim staked out a pool table. He held out a cue, eyebrow raised in a challenge. “You’re on,” Throndir mouthed while he waited for their drinks.

Now, secretly, Throndir was absolutely shit at pool, but Ephrim didn’t need to know that.

A drink in each hand, Throndir walked up to the table. “Ready?”

Ephrim sighed. “I think somebody hexed these balls.” He rolled a striped ball towards a hole, but it reversed direction at the last moment, flinging back to the other end of the table.

“I’ll go find someone to fix them.”

“Thank you,” he drawled, sipping his drink and smiling at him. 

An employee with bright green hair came over with a birch wooden box, chatting with them as he cleansed the set. “I’m sorry, we had a bunch of warlocks in here earlier that got extremely competitive. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks!” Ephrim called, and then the match was on. Throndir had initially believed that through a strategy of drinking beer and talking shit, he might be able to pull out a win, but those hopes were soon dashed by the fact that Ephrim seemed to be actually really good at pool. 

Throndir bent low over the table, trying hard to sink at least one ball before Ephrim won the game. He bit his lip as he concentrated and fired. By some miracle, it went in. Throndir stood up to taunt Ephrim and celebrate, but as he looked over, he realized he hadn’t been watching his shot at all. There was no doubt about it this time: Ephrim had been staring at his lips. And Ephrim had seen him catch him, because his cheeks flushed, just visible in the dark bar.

So Throndir, empowered by this knowledge, their previous conversation, and a single beer, walked up next to Ephrim. He leaned against the wall, smiling. “You know,” he said in a low voice, “I don’t mind if you kiss me.”

“If you’re trying to distract me from beating you, it won’t work.”

“Not a distraction. All genuine.”

Ephrim squinted at him, teasing. “I don’t think I believe you.”

“If you haven’t realized by now, I am fucking terrible at pool. I could curse you into missing every shot and I would still lose. I’ve given up hope on beating you.”

“But not on kissing me, apparently.”

It was Throndir’s turn to blush. “That one’s a lot harder to give up on.”

Ephrim leaned into his space, hooking his hand around his neck. “That’s understandable.” He grinned, and then leaned in the last two inches or so to kiss him. It was their first kiss that you could describe as gentle. No desperation, no explosion of feelings, but something much softer. For that moment, everything else fell away, and they were just two people who cared about each other kissing in a run down bar. 

Ephrim pulled back to breathe, turned around, and fired off the last winning shot. Throndir groaned, pretending to be devastated at the loss. His groan provoked a smirk as Ephrim curled back up against him. “Rematch?”

Throndir swiped Ephrim’s hair out of his face. “You’re on.”

“You can break.” Ephrim leaned in again, but he paused before kissing him. “Do you feel okay with this?”

He nodded. “You already know my philosophy. The heart wants what the heart wants.”

Ephrim gasped, excitedly hitting Throndir in the chest. “I was right! You did have a crush on me!”

Throndir rolled his eyes. “I didn’t  _ then. _ ”

“Well sure, we hadn’t hit our twenty minutes of talking quota yet.”

He huffed, face burning. “Shush, you.”

“Make me.” An eyebrow raised.

In another less public setting, perhaps this would have been an invitation to pick up Ephrim and throw him on the pool table. But instead, he settled for a kiss with just enough bite to let Ephrim know that he was thinking about more than just that.

Still smirking, Ephrim walked back to the table, setting up the next game. Throndir hesitated for a second, taking a moment to commit the last five minutes to memory, and then followed.

The rest of the night passed in much of the same way: flirting, playing pool, hands on arms and shoulders and backs and sides and chests. By the time they got back to the motel, all of the double rooms had been taken, and only the single beds were available.

“That’s fine,” Ephrim said, winking at Throndir as the motel employee turned his back to grab the room key.

Throndir rolled his eyes. 

But they didn’t do anything nearly that salacious that night. Instead, they had both changed quickly, exhaustion from the day suddenly setting in. Ephrim laid down first, claiming the right side. Throndir followed, settling down just a few inches away from him. They stayed like that for a moment, close, but not daring to get too close, until Ephrim broke the silence with a sigh.

He reached out for Throndir in the darkness. “Come here.”

Throndir readily agreed, moving closer until he was in Ephrim’s arms. They wrapped around him tight. Throndir hummed, and Ephrim pressed his hand into his chest. Throndir took his hand and brought it to his lips, giving him a soft kiss goodnight.

“You’re going to make this very difficult for me, aren’t you?” Ephrim smiled, eyes nearly closed. 

Throndir mumbled something unintelligible back, words failing him as he fell asleep.

***

This time, Throndir woke up first. They had apparently rolled over in the night, with Throndir now spooning Ephrim. His arm was wrapped around Ephrim’s side, bodies slotted together perfectly. He smiled, wondering if there was a future where this could happen every day. He didn’t move except to trail his fingertips up and down Ephrim’s arm.

Ephrim made a small noise and rolled over, facing him now. He blinked slowly, waking up, and gave Throndir a little smile. “Hi.”

“Good morning.” Throndir brushed the hair out of his eyes. 

“Mmmph.” Ephrim pressed his face into Throndir’s chest. “Five more minutes.”

Throndir laughed, moving his hand to trace circles on Ephrim’s back. “I didn’t say we had to get up.”

Ephrim sighed. “But you want to.”

“No, I don’t think I ever want to leave this bed.” Ephrim hummed happily at the idea. Throndir began to run his hand along Ephrim’s side now. When he reached his hip, he lifted Ephrim’s shirt just a little. He traced the swirls of his wave tattoo, crashing over and over. “Is there a story behind this?”

“Teenage rebellion.”

Throndir laughed. “No, but really.”

“I got it on my eighteenth birthday. For years I had been dying to get a tattoo, to mark my body as mine and mine alone. I like the ocean. It’s vast and mysterious. It’s dangerous, but it brings life too.” He looked up at Throndir through his dark lashes. “But mostly I just thought the whole water thing would be ironic.”

“It’s really pretty.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re really pretty.”

Ephrim groaned. “It’s too early for this level of cheesiness.”

“Get used to it,” he fired back, before he had enough time to truly consider his words. The remark hung in the air, until both men tried to respond to it at once.

“Throndir, you know--”

“Are we--”

Throndir laughed, a little. “You go first.”

Ephrim pulled himself up to be eye level with Throndir. “I wish I could get used to this. But I know I can’t.” He sighed. “I wish this was simpler.”

Throndir sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I get that.”

“Because like, this should be very simple. The answer to ‘Should I date this hot vampire?’ should always be yes.” Throndir started giggling. “But somehow, we are in perhaps the singular situation where the answer is not cut and dry.”

“I hate to break it to you, but in my experience, your logic is not universal.”

“Anyone who disagrees with me is a fool.” Throndir’s giggles built to a full belly laugh, which got Ephrim to crack, a single laugh breaking through his serious demeanor. He sighed, and ran his fingers through his dyed red hair. “I’m sorry, I interrupted you. What were you going to say?”

He couldn’t ask his question now. “Nothing, nothing.”

“Throndir.” Ephrim’s eyes lit up, sensing weakness. “Tell me.”

“...I was going to ask if we were boyfriends now.”

Ephrim cracked up, doubled over laughing.

“Okay, fuck off,” Throndir said, face warm.

“Dude, I have no idea! That was my whole fucking point! I am so far out of my depth here.”

“I mean, technically, we have spent like, sixty waking hours together, which is at least like ten dates. That’s boyfriend territory.”

Ephrim smiled, but his eyes betrayed him, and Throndir knew the answer coming would be something he didn’t want to hear. “Boyfriend implies something after this that I can’t guarantee. You’re on a trip, a mission. You go back to Velas when we’re done with this. I don’t. That’s always been the deal.” He sighed. “I like you, Throndir. A lot. I don’t want to break your heart.”

“I’m tougher than I look.”

“Will you believe me if I say it’s not you, it’s me?”

“Nope.”

Ephrim laughed. “I wish I could, Throndir. But really-- a boyfriend that you can never see again, or even tell anyone about? You deserve more than that.”

It wasn’t until Ephrim spelled it out for him that he fully realized their situation. In a few days, he would see Ephrim for the last time. Ever. He felt the loss already, like a small hole in his chest. How could it hurt so much to lose someone he had, relatively speaking, just met?

Ephrim sat up all the way, moving out of Throndir’s arms. “Throndir, I don’t think it’s a good idea to do things like this anymore.”

Throndir’s instinct was to say screw it and make the most of the days they had left together. If it was going to hurt later anyways, why not enjoy it while they could? But he understood Ephrim’s response too. So he nodded. “Of course.”

Ephrim pressed his hands against his eyes. “We should start heading out.”

“Okay,” he said, offering a hand to help Ephrim out of the bed. He didn’t take it.


	6. an afternoon interlude

Throndir knows that Kodiak needs some significant running around time, and frankly, Ephrim could use a breather too. It turns out, sitting in an enclosed car for hours with someone you admitted to having feelings for but then also sort of rejected is emotionally draining. And he’s not even the feelings vampire.

So some time apart sounds like a good idea. Ephrim volunteers to go find a grocery store and stock up on snacks. He takes his time, wandering up and down the aisles, headphones playing all his favorite music that Throndir had deemed “too angsty for a fun trip”. 

Ephrim had rolled his eyes at that, of course, and put on his one acoustic playlist.

But now, he stares at the wall of apples, trying to remember which kind Throndir said were his favorite. He debates texting him about it, but decides against it. The whole point of this is to spend time apart.

So naturally, the second he goes to put his phone back in his pocket, it dings with a text from Throndir.

> Throndir: https://gossipmag.co.fatt/how-to-survive-long-distance-eight-tips-and-tricks
> 
> Ephrim: oh my god

He glances through the article, stifling laughter. The advice is cheesy and ridiculous. But he sees the point Throndir is trying to make.

> Throndir: Did you read number 3? 😉
> 
> Ephrim: ah yes, tip three, “have you heard of this new fangled thing called sexting?”
> 
> Ephrim: maybe the only relevant one in the whole list, honestly

He decides on green apples, and moves on to go find sweets. They ate all their Oreos in the first two days, and somehow haven’t been able to find any since. Double stuff is crucial.

> Throndir: Is that your way of asking for nudes?

Instinctively, Ephrim turns off his phone and glances around, as if he’s afraid someone has seen. He’s bright red. It usually takes much more than this to embarrass him, hell, he's probably made much dirtier jokes in the last 24 hours, but somehow Throndir has a direct line to his heart.

> Ephrim: do NOT
> 
> Ephrim: kroger doesnt need to see that
> 
> Throndir: You sure? A token to remember me by…
> 
> Ephrim: nah im stealing your red flannel im good

He knows he shouldn’t do this. Every affectionate word, every flirt, every tease, they’re all just going to be ammunition for his brain to throw at him later. He already knows there will be nights spent awake, staring at the ceiling, cursing The Church for taking this away from him along with everything else. He doesn’t need to add to the pile of fury and regret.

But it’s so easy. Everything with him feels comfortable. Throndir’s good nature is, quite frankly, a refreshing change from the guys he usually hooks up with. Their raport is-- it’s not effortless, but whatever Throndir’s reply is always makes the effort worthwhile. His bright laughter is so contagious. And the way his deep brown eyes look at you with complete attention, even if you’re just talking about the weather…

Okay, Ephrim is officially pining now. Which is ridiculous. They’re just not meant to be.

> Throndir: 🙄
> 
> Throndir: I’m just saying. I know we have other things going on, but, you know. Regular people do this all the time.

God, Ephrim can see the puppy dog look in Throndir’s eyes. That might be the hardest part: Throndir, always the optimist, convinced they could make it work. As if he hadn’t seen the lengths Dark Son were willing to go to for what they want. 

He wants to say yes, with all of his heart. That they can try. 

> Ephrim: throndir, once i get to new york, i physically cannot go back
> 
> Ephrim: like, fake name, new number, delete all social media, live in the woods 
> 
> Ephrim: except the woods is a shitty apartment the size of a dishwasher

But he knows that trying would actively put Throndir’s life in danger, even more so than he already has. And that is a line he cannot cross.

> Throndir: I know, I know.
> 
> Throndir: But have you considered tip number six?
> 
> Ephrim: whats tip number six

He clicks on the article and groans, earning a few sideways glances from other shoppers.

> Ephrim: okay, permanent ban on you sending me articles about straight people


	7. chapter five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this is already in the tags, but this chapter contains the fight with arrell, so content warnings for violence, including gun violence, and blood.

“Oh my god,” Ephrim flung him arm out, hitting Throndir on the shoulder. “I’m taking this exit. We’re stopping.”

Throndir turned around instinctively, looking for Adleton or Dark Son or something behind them, but nothing jumped out at him. “Are you okay?” he asked, a little nervous.

“I’m great. I’m fucking excellent.” Ephrim was smiling ear to ear. It made Throndir’s heart swell, a feeling that he tried to squash as soon as he recognized it.

“Okay, where are we going then?”

He took the exit, heading towards a mini mall along the highway. “I have been dying for this.” They pulled up in front of Parallax Press, a chain coffee shop.

Throndir stifled a laugh. “This is what you detoured us for?”

“Yes.” Ephrim parked and jumped out of the car.

Throndir followed. “Parallax Press is garbage.”

“Oh, yeah, for sure. But every coffee I have had in the past five days has come from either a gas station or a motel bedroom. At least here, they know what the words ‘dry cappuccino’ mean.”

“Ah.” Throndir pretended to know what that was, and opened the door for Ephrim.

The barista greeted them with a smile. “Hi,” Ephrim jumped in, “can I get a small dry cappuccino with an extra shot, and-- what do you want?”

Throndir looked up at the menu. “I literally have no idea. I haven’t been in one of these in years.”

Ephrim shared a smirk with the barista. “Just get him a caramel frappé.”

“What’s that?”

“Sixteen ounces of caffeinated sugar. You’ll love it,” Ephrim teased, placing his hand on the small of his back. 

“Sure,” Throndir said with a soft smile, unable to say much else with so much of his brain devoted to the physical contact. Ephrim removed his hand to grab his wallet as if it was nothing, paid in cash as usual, and tugged at Throndir’s sleeve, leading him to sit by a window.

Ephrim tapped his foot restlessly. He didn’t think he had ever seen Ephrim this visibly excited. It was cute, excruciatingly so. When Ephrim jumped up to get his drink, he found himself staring wistfully at him as he stood at the counter, chatting with the barista.

“And your boyfriend’s drink is almost done,” he heard the barista say.

“Oh, he’s not-- we’re not--” Ephrim stammered.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I just assumed--”

“It’s okay!” Ephrim said too quickly for it to be true. “But yeah. We’re not. Unfortunately.”

“Oh, well, I’m pretty sure he’s…” The barista dropped her voice low, and Throndir couldn’t hear her anymore.

Ephrim laughed. “It’s a little complicated. But thanks for trying to help.” Ephrim turned around, and Throndir busied himself with his phone, pretending he hadn’t been listening. “Ready?” Ephrim asked. The pure joy on his face now had shifted into something more manufactured, but Throndir didn’t want to make it worse by asking.

“Of course,” he said, standing up. Ephrim held out his drink, covered in whip cream and caramel. He took a sip. “You were right. This is delicious.”

Ephrim grinned. “I know you so well.”

His throat tightened. “Yeah. You do.”

***

They arrived at their next stop that evening after sundown. Throndir ordered their room, making sure to get a double and not daring to look Ephrim in the eye as he did. As soon as they were settled in, Throndir left to go take Kodiak on his walk. He circled around a few blocks, trying to clear his mind. He didn’t want to think about Ephrim or Arrell or Highwater. He didn’t want to think at all. 

But that was hard to do. They were so close to the end now, he couldn’t pretend that they were just two people (friends? boyfriends? acquaintances?) out on the open road anymore. The goodbyes would be happening soon, and there wasn’t a fucking thing Throndir could do about it.

He decided to go to the convenience store, just for something to do. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, until Kodiak pulled him towards one corner of the store. He rolled his eyes.

“Easy there, boy,” he said softly, but he followed Kodiak’s lead. Kodiak led him not to the beef jerky stand, like he had been expecting, but to the display of lighters. He sat in front of the display, looking up at Throndir.

He laughed, more at himself than at the dog. “I came here to try to stop thinking about him, buddy.” Kodiak didn’t budge. “But you’re right. It’s a smart idea.” He bought one, silver and smooth, along with some treats for Kodiak as a thank you. 

Quicker than he realized, he was back in the motel room, head nowhere near as clear as he had hoped it would be. Apparently Ephrim had been thinking about the end of the trip too. He had covered the corner table in their map, phone open with the Greyhound schedule, scraps of paper with plans half-worked out. On top of it all, Ephrim had fallen asleep, head resting in his hands.

“Ephrim,” Throndir spoke quietly, gently squeezing his shoulder.

He blinked awake. “How long were you gone?”

“Maybe half an hour?”

“Shit.” His words slurred, still groggy. He began rummaging around the table, grabbing a couple of his pieces of paper.

His hand shifted, running over the back of his neck now. “You should go to bed.”

“I can’t.” He rubbed his eyes. “I have to figure this out tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because Highwater is tricky. She’s a lot smarter than I gave her credit for, and if I’m going to dodge her, I need a plan.”

Throndir sat down across from him. “Well, what do we have so far?”

“What are you doing?” he said, sighing more than asking.

“Helping you.”

Ephrim typed something into his phone, not looking up as he spoke. “I don’t want your help.”

He tried his best to hide it, but boy, did those words sting. “And I don’t want you to stay up all night working on this.”

“The difference there is if I stay up all night tonight, I can sleep on the drive tomorrow. An easy fix. If you know what my plan is, Dark Son can and will torture it out of you. And then we’re both fucked.”

“You shouldn’t have to do this alone,” he pressed.

Ephrim finally looked up at him. “There’s a lot I shouldn’t have to do. I can’t really afford to get hung up on that right now.” Ephrim’s eyes swept over him, and he looked as though he was going to say something else, but instead he sighed and got back to work.

Throndir got up from the table, moving behind Ephrim to get changed and go to bed. “I’m setting a timer,” he called. “One hour. Then you have to go to sleep.”

Ephrim laughed, but it sounded much more shallow than usual. “Sure.”

But he kept his promise-- not too long later, Ephrim shook Throndir awake.

“Hey,” he said, holding up Throndir’s phone and smiling. The timer still had another six minutes to go. “I’m finished. Just wanted to let you know that I’m going to bed.”

“Good.” Throndir grabbed his phone, swiping the timer off. “I didn’t want to deal with your grumpy ass tomorrow.”

Ephrim laughed. “Thank you. For trying to look out for me. Even when I’m being a stubborn asshole about it.”

“Of course.” Throndir rolled back over, smiling to himself, and Ephrim went to go get ready for bed. There were so many things he wanted to say, about Ephrim and him and looking out for each other. “Ephrim, I--” he started, but he realized what he was doing and stopped. A beat of silence followed.

“Me too,” Ephrim replied, muttering. “Good night, Throndir.”

***

Neither of them had spoken much on their last few miles of the trip. Throndir had broken the silence only once to ask if Ephrim wanted to go to the beach, and he had agreed. 

Now Ephrim stood on a rock, facing the waves. His hair blew in the breeze. He had wrapped Throndir’s flannel around him, using it to block the wind as he stood, it seemed, in contemplation. It was a stark sight, bright red against the blue and grey of the water and sky. Throndir had thought Ephrim had been joking about stealing the flannel, but apparently not. He supposed it was a small price to pay for everything Ephrim had given him.

He let Ephrim have his space, but once it was getting to be time to head out, he approached him, joining him on the rock but not saying a word.

Ephrim didn’t look over at him or move at all. The only acknowledgment of his presence came in the form of a question: “What exactly are you doing, after all this? When we’re done?”

“I turn around and I go home.” He looked over at Ephrim, who was staring out at the sea. “Kodiak and I go back to our tiny apartment, and I get drinks with Hadrian, and maybe Fero will be in town, and, most importantly, I get to put all this behind me once and for all.” He took a deep breath, gathering his courage a bit, and he continued. “And hopefully, you are there too, in some form. I know you can’t go back, I’m not asking you to do that. But I can’t imagine doing all of this with you and then never talking to you again.”

Ephrim’s face didn’t change. Throndir began to ramble. “You know, like, there are a bunch of really secure messaging services now, and I can get a burner phone, and—“

“What if I did?”

“What if you did what?”

He finally looked back at Throndir, breaking away from the water. “What if I did go back?”

“I… I thought you couldn’t.”

“I realized something when I was making my plan last night. Trying to leave clearly hasn’t worked. I need to change course. I think I need to take the fight to them, in a sense.”

“By ‘in a sense’, do you mean actually fighting them?”

He laughed. “Maybe.”

“Well, if you need back up, you know where to find me.” Ephrim laughed again. “I’m serious. You helped me with my revenge murder quest, we can do yours next.”

Ephrim turned fully to face him. “I think I have to do this one on my own.” He brought his hand to Throndir’s cheek. “The person I’d be going up against-- they’re not like Arrell. He’s not like anyone else, and he is very dangerous. And I--” He took a deep breath. “I am beginning to care about you very deeply, Throndir, and if  _ he _ hurt you, I would probably feel guilty about that for the rest of my life.”

“I understand,” he said. He knew he should be stone-faced, serious, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “So, I’m not leaving you in New Jersey, then? You’re riding back to California with us?”

“Yeah.” He tucked a curl back behind Throndir’s ear. 

“And you care very deeply about me?”

Ephrim turned pink. “I said I’m beginning to. Don’t push your luck,” he teased, leaning forward and kissing him softly.

Throndir caught his head in his hands, needed concrete assurance that this was real, this was happening. “Are you sure?” he breathed, foreheads still pressed together.

Ephrim nodded. “They’ll still hurt people if I escape. They might still hurt  _ you _ for helping me escape. If I can stop them, I owe it to the universe to do that instead of just saving my own skin. No matter how much my skin deserves saving.”

Throndir laughed, stroking his thumb over Ephrim’s cheek, eyes full of fondness. “Okay. I don’t know if you should go and do that alone--”

“You’re not coming. It’s not happening.”

“--but we can revisit that later.”

Ephrim rolled his eyes. “Can we please just go fight this wizard?”

“Sure,” he said, distracted, not moving his hand from Ephrim’s face.

“You know,” Ephrim said, wearing a shit-eating grin, “I don’t mind if you kiss me.”

***

Arrell was holed up, it turned out, in an abandoned library. It was a huge brick building, with untamed ivy climbing up and across it. They made a rough plan in the car: Throndir would approach, Ephrim would lurk in the shadows to maintain some element of surprise.

“We’re going to do this,” Ephrim reassured him, hand on the back of his neck. “We’re going to take care of him.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then you’ll try again. I know you now, I know you’ll try again.”

“Okay,” Throndir breathed, shaky, checking his gun for the umpteenth time. “C’mon, Kodiak.”

He got out of the car and approached the building. With its boarded up windows and overgrown lawn, it didn’t seem like the kind of place Arrell would choose to stay in.

Then again, he didn’t know much about Arrell’s taste. It certainly wasn’t anywhere Fantasmo would have chosen to stay, at any rate.

He tucked his gun into the waistband of his jeans and pushed the door open. “Arrell!” he called, nerves pushing his caution to the wind as he walked inside.

He immediately paid the price for that. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a symbol drawn on the wall in chalk glow, and then a shelf on the other side of the hallway fell. He jumped out of the way just in time, looking behind him to see the bookshelf now barricading the door.

“No visitors allowed, eh?” he called out again.

“Throndir.” Arrell stalked into the room, staff in one hand, book in the other. “I see Isaac wasn’t lying to me after all.”

“Understandable that you’d think that.” He approached Arrell, who didn’t move at all.

“Forgive me for being so… surprised to see you. Until recently, I thought you hadn’t survived our last encounter.”

“Oh, I did die.”

His eyebrows pressed together -- the only indication of any confusion. “I see.”

“Are you gonna invite me in?”

His eyes narrowed. “Do I  _ need _ to invite you in?”

“No, but it’s good manners.”

“Right,” Arrell scoffed. “Come with me,” he said, turning around and walking deeper into the library.

Throndir followed carefully as Arrell led him to the room that clearly had used to be the main stacks of the library. It was a large and open hall, with a balcony that wrapped around the room on the level above. Some of the shelves remained, while others had been pushed aside to make room for more sigils on the floor or tables full of bubbling potions and other objects Throndir couldn’t immediately recognize. The age of the building showed here -- a few of the windows were missing their glass, allowing sunlight to pour into the room.

“Well, I know you’re not here to kill me,” Arrell said, weaving through the tables and shelves. “You were one of the smarter ones, I doubt you’d try to attack me in my own home, what with all the possible magical defenses I could have.”

Well. Throndir hadn’t thought about that. “That’s right,” he lied.

“So then why are you here?”

“I... need to ask for a favor.”

Arrell looked him up and down, then laughed to himself. “Curious.” He turned away from Throndir, opening a drawer in a desk. “Do you smoke?”

“I don’t really breathe, so, no.”

“Then I don’t suppose you have a light?” Arrell asked, gesturing toward him with a cigarette.

An opening. “Actually, I do,” Throndir said, holding out the lighter he had bought and hoping Ephrim would get the hint. “I’ve learned they can be very useful.”

Arrell leaned over, cigarette between his fingers. In an instant, the flame from the lighter had wrapped around his neck. Ephrim stepped forward out of the shadows, right fist clenched tight.

Arrell laughed. “Well played, Throndir.”

He ignored him, shooting Ephrim a look. “Do it.”

The flames around his neck grew as Ephrim stepped closer, quickly engulfing his head. Arrell made a wincing noise, as if in pain, then the flames turned purple, turned black, and vanished.

Arrell’s face, charred and blistering, grinned. “I’m surprised you let him do that. Thought you would have wanted to kill me yourself.”

“I don’t care who does it as long as you’re wiped from the face of the planet,” he snarled.

“Well,” he said, reaching behind him for his staff, “surely you must have guessed that it was going to be hard to kill me.” He stepped backwards, pointing his staff at Ephrim and cocking his head. “Have we met?”

“No,” Ephrim said, “I’d remember if I met someone who made my flames do  _ that. _ ” His hands erupted in fire, coated in the stuff, but the edges continued to fade out to purple and then black and then nothing.

“That’s not me,” he said, watching Ephrim. His voice shook, just slightly, but enough to fill Throndir with a surge of confidence. Then Arrell turned his attention back to him. “You know, this is probably just the Fantasmo side of me talking, but if you could give me five minutes to study this--”

Throndir drew his gun. “You don’t get to use his name.”

“The name is mine, Throndir. He was always mine.” Arrell stalked forward, passing his staff from one hand to the other. “He always liked--” The words were cut off as Ephrim took the opportunity to strike from behind, delivering a hefty kick and knocking the wind out of him. Arrell turned to face him, and Ephrim punched him with a flaming fist.

Arrell reacted in kind, gesturing in the air and summoning three magical darts. Two of them attacked Ephrim, one on each side of his face, while the other aimed for Throndir’s hand. Ephrim swatted his away, but Throndir wasn’t so lucky. He turned to dodge it, missile hitting his shoulder instead of his hand or his pistol. Which was better, but still not great. He grimaced at the impact. 

Ephrim had recovered well, though, and put up enough of a fight to distract Arrell thoroughly. The flames surrounding his hands had extended and become more solid, as if he was holding two daggers. Ephrim sliced across his torso, leaving tears and burns in his robes.

Throndir swallowed, holding his shoulder with one hand to steady his shot, and fired twice. Arrell threw up a shield, glittering and blue, but in doing so gave Ephrim an opening. He slammed a fire dagger into Arrell’s side.

Arrell snarled, but that was the only evidence that it had hurt him at all. Throndir fired again, frustrated. A blow like that would have killed anyone else. 

But he needed to put his frustration aside, because Arrell’s attention was squarely on him now. He gestured in the air, summoning ice shards that rained down on him. Throndir dove under the desk for cover. 

Ephrim tried to strike again, and Arrell turned his back on Throndir. “So, where did Throndir find you?” Throndir poked his head out, watching Ephrim and Arrell circle each other. Quietly, he lined up a shot from behind the desk. It was difficult with his shoulder bleeding now.

“That’s none of your business,” Ephrim snapped.

“Does he know what’s wrong with your flames?” Arrell stepped closer. “Do you know what’s wrong with you?”

Ephrim answered by lunging in for a strike. Arrell was ready for it, tripping him with his staff. He fell to the ground on his back, and Arrell poked his staff into his chest. Ephrim froze, unnaturally, his expression of anger stuck on his face.

Throndir leapt to his feet, but before he could react, something boomed, and Arrell flew forward, crumpled on the ground. Ephrim stirred, and Throndir ran over to him.

“Are you all right?” Throndir asked, helping him up.

“I hate that guy,” Ephrim said, shaking his head. “Magic sucks.”

He laughed. “You’re telling me.”

“Nice shot, by the way.” Ephrim’s eyes trailed down, to fixate on his bleeding shoulder.

But Throndir shook his head. “That wasn’t me.”

“Wait, what?” His focus snapped backed up, and he looked around frantically. “Oh, fuck.”

The panic in Ephrim’s voice spurred Throndir to action. “We gotta go, now.”

“Wait.” A voice called out from the balcony-- Highwater. She pushed the hood of her cloak off as she emerged, rifle slung across her back, hands raised. “Wait. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Throndir pointed his gun at her, steadying his bleeding shoulder with the other hand. “I’m not letting you take him again.”

He blinked, and she was suddenly downstairs, just a few feet from them. “I’m not going to. Ephrim, you were right.”

Throndir frowned, looking between the two of them.

“Highwater, are you--”

“You should go.” She looked down, away from them.

“Highwater, are you sure?” Ephrim repeated.

“Of course I’m sure. You’d be dead if I wasn’t sure.”

“Thanks,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“He’s not going to stay down for long. Please, go.”

Ephrim stepped toward her now. “You don’t have to stay. You can come with us.”

“Sorry, no, she’s not getting in my car.”

Ephrim glared at Throndir, then turned back to face her. “You don’t have to stay with them. There are other ways to do this. Hell, if I can get out, you could disappear no problem.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “I have a few loose ends to take care of first. But I’m sure someday, I’ll see you on the other side of this shit.”

Ephrim pushed past Throndir, embracing her. “That’s a promise,” he said, pressing something into her palm.

And suddenly they were back in the car— whether Highwater had transported them there or they had walked and Throndir was just still in a haze, he wasn’t sure, but Ephrim was sitting in the driver’s seat, getting ready to go. He didn’t dare stop clutching his wounded shoulder. 

“We didn’t kill him.”

“No, we didn’t.”

Throndir paused, then turned for the door handle. “I’m going back in there.”

Ephrim locked the car doors. “Don’t be ridiculous. Your shoulder looks wrecked. We’re going to get you fixed up, and then we’ll go home.”

Throndir laughed. “I... don’t know if they’ll treat me.”

“Well, don’t tell them it was a magic missile. This is Jersey, I’m sure the ER won’t actually give a shit.” He pulled away from the library, hardly looking in the rearview mirror as he drove away.

Throndir let out a long breath. “What the hell just happened? With Highwater?”

Ephrim smiled to himself. “I think I finally got through to her. I’ve been trying to explain why I’m leaving when she’s cornered me. She’s not all that bad, you know.”

Throndir snorted. “Could have fooled me.”

“Samothes manipulated her, just like he manipulated me. I am certainly not the only person who needs to get out of there.” He sighed. “I just hope she actually does it.”

“Do you think we need to worry about her?”

He shook his head. “If she was going to stop me, she would have done it then.”

“Okay.” They sat in silence as Ephrim drove, not even bothering to turn on the radio.

“We didn’t kill him,” Throndir repeated. 

“No, but we certainly made it harder for him to hurt anyone else.” Ephrim gestured to the ornate book in the backseat.

“Yeah, but I didn’t  _ kill him. _ ”

“You’ll get another shot,” said Ephrim, softly. “Next time, we’ll bring reinforcements.”

“You would do it again?”

“Of course.” They stopped at a red light, and Ephrim took the opportunity to lean over and kiss his cheek. “But give yourself some recovery time before round two, okay?”

He nodded. 

“And hey, Throndir?”

“Yeah?”

Ephrim’s eyes flicked over him quickly before turning back to the road. “Since when do vampires bleed?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if any of the gapshy bois are reading this: hi, i miss y'all, consider this my sacrifice to the scheduling gods
> 
> you can find me on twitter @angstcaffeine! final chapter shouldnt take as long as this one, i dont have to write any more fight scenes lmao


	8. chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning for descriptions of injuries and the treatment of injuries in the first and last scenes of this chapter

The best way to get a vampire’s injury treated is to find a doctor with magical and mundane medical experience, who is discrete, quick, and good under pressure.

Adaire Ducarte is some of those things, to be sure, but definitely not all of them. But she’s the best they can do, under the circumstances.

She stitched Throndir up in the backseat, parked out back behind the shop seemingly named for her. He hissed as she worked on the injury, her needle threaded with something thicker than regular string and pearlescent.

“Don’t move,” she warned again as Throndir grimaced. “Moving is just going to make it worse.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s impossible for anything to make this hurt worse.”

She laughed at him. “I’m almost done. Just hang on a little longer.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank him.” She jerked her head towards the window, where Ephrim was standing outside, talking on the phone. “He’s the one paying me.”

“I know. I would have picked a nicer doctor.”

She sighed. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, I am not a doctor.” She paused, scanning her handiwork. “But I think I am done. Ephrim!”

He hung up the phone and rushed over. “Is he going to be okay?”

She snorted. “He was always going to be fine. Now, the stitches are going to look a little weird for a few days, because they are, you know, death magic, but they’ll settle into your skin.”

He looked down at his shoulder. The shimmering thread did stand out against his darker skin.

“Do I need to worry about them?” Throndir asked.

“No, just make sure you wear a shirt outside for the next three days. Unless you want everyone to know you have a magic shoulder wound.”

“Not particularly,” he said, glancing over at Ephrim. “Thanks again,” he said, shaking Adaire’s hand.

“Again, your patronage is thanks enough. And if you’re sticking around, your patronage inside would also be appreciated.”

“I think we need to get going.”

“I understand.” She nodded. “Take care, then.” She stepped out of the car, smoothing the skirt of her uniform as she went.

Ephrim slid into the seat next to him, taking his turn to examine the stitches. “She does do good work,” he muttered, gently brushing the thread with his fingertips. “Almost worth what she made me pay her.”

Throndir laughed as Ephrim continued to trace his hand across his bare chest.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Ephrim said. “I didn’t realize how badly he’d gotten you until we were out of there.”

“You’re telling me. When he froze you— I never thought I’d say this, but thank god Highwater was there.”

“Speaking of Highwater,” Ephrim said, hand coming to rest on Throndir’s thigh, “that was her on the phone. So, I have good news and bad news.”

“Here we go again,” Throndir groaned. “Okay, hit me.”

“The good news is that Highwater is trying her hardest to find me in New York,” Ephrim said sarcastically, “so they won’t be coming after us any time soon.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is that you’re stuck in the car with me for 3,000 more miles.” He smirked.

Relief spread throughout Throndir’s body. “I wouldn’t call that bad news,” he grinned, putting his own hand on top of Ephrim’s.

“Are you sure? I’m going to drink so much coffee, and play so much terrible music, and be such a nuisance.”

“That’s all fine.”

“I’m going to figure out how to get Kodiak to love me more than you.”

He laughed. “That’s literally impossible.”

“And, worst of all,” he said, leaning in with a smug grin on his face, “I’m not going to let you drive while your shoulder’s healing.”

“Okay, now you’ve gone too far.” Ephrim cracked up. “It’s my car! Driving’s not even going to do anything to my shoulder.”

“Babe, I get it, your self-sacrificial streak is a mile long, that’s your thing, but you could genuinely fuck up your shoulder if it doesn’t heal properly.”

“Uh huh.” Throndir nodded along, brain having stopped functioning properly after hearing Ephrim call him babe, unable to find a counter-argument.

“Great,” he replied, already grabbing for the keys, “so you understand.”

“Fine,” Throndir agreed, under much duress.

“Thank you,” Ephrim said in a sing-song voice. “Oh and one more thing.” He snuck a glance at the stitches, down Throndir’s chest, and back up to his eyes again. “Personally, I don’t think you should take Adaire’s advice about wearing a shirt.”

“Oh my god.”

“That doesn’t seem medically necessary.”

“Okay, get in the front, let’s go.” The blush was creeping down his neck and across his collarbone.

“Just wanted to mention it.” He smirked.

“Please just drive.”

***

That night brought a new, fierce battle: one between Throndir and Kodiak for space on the bed.

Throndir sighed. “Kodiak, move over.” He tried to push him to one side of the bed, but he wouldn’t budge from where he was sprawled out in the center of the mattress. “I need to sleep here too.”

“You know,” Ephrim called from his bed, “if he doesn’t move, you could always. Um. Sleep in here with me.”

“Oh.”

“If you want.”

“No, um.” He took a second to clear his throat. “I do want.” God, after everything, why was he still this nervous?

“Okay.” A smile spread over Ephrim’s face.

Throndir got into bed, and, staring at the ceiling, said, “We have to spend so much time in the car together. I didn’t think you would want me to be so close when I don’t have to be.”

There was a pause, and then Ephrim laughed, putting his hand over his eyes. “Throndir, I like being close to you.” He rolled over to face him, reaching out and squeezing his chest. “I can’t do this while you’re driving.”

“I mean, you could.”

“No, you would crash the fucking car.”

He laughed and inched closer. “I like being close to you too,” he murmured.

“Good,” Ephrim whispered. He pressed a kiss to Throndir’s chest and then rested his head on it. “Good night, Throndir.”

***

It was like the dam had broken between them. Touches didn’t feel fleeting anymore. He could break off a kiss without worry because he knew another one would come.

Once Ephrim let him back behind the wheel, Throndir found himself taking the scenic route whenever possible, wanting to make memories or give himself more time with Ephrim or something. They were at one of these scenic stops, looking over a cliffside at a river. Ephrim sat in a very precarious position, feet dangling over the edge, with Kodiak at his side. Throndir saw the two of them and exhaled. The sight of Ephrim smiling and laughing and playing with Kodiak filled him with a sense of easy contentment that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. He wished, for a moment, that there was a way to capture this feeling and hold it in his hand. Then he remembered that it was 2019, and he had a camera in his pocket.

He fumbled for his phone. Throndir was no photographer, but it wasn’t hard to make Ephrim look cinematic silhouetted against the sunset. But at the last moment, Ephrim turned around.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking a picture of you.”

“Don’t.”

“But you look so pretty like that, though.”

“Don’t,” Ephrim repeated. “I don’t trust Apple not to upload them to the cloud or what the fuck ever without telling you and them suddenly, bam, Dark Son knows I’m not in New York.”

Throndir frowned. “You’re right,” he sighed, putting the phone away. “I just want to remember this.”

“I know.” Ephrim stood up, and wrapped his hands around his waist. “When we’re all done with this, after I--” He took a deep breath. “After I finish this, you can take as many pictures of me as you want. We’ll travel all over, just so you can take pictures of me in front of pretty things. I promise.”

“Ephrim, you might be a little narcissistic.”

“Oh, absolutely.” He grinned.

“But that does sound really nice.”

“It will be.” Ephrim leaned in, and Throndir took the hint, kissing him slowly.

***

Throndir spends the next night in Ephrim’s bed again-- this time not because Ephrim asked, but because they were watching a movie together on the tiny hotel tv, and Ephrim fell asleep on his shoulder, and what was he going to do, wake him up?

So it feels natural at that point to spend the third night in the same bed, and he’s certainly not going to get up and move after they spend an hour being, well, even closer together than they are when they sleep.

***

“Do you want to go see the world’s largest ball of twine?” Ephrim looked up at him in the mirror from the passenger seat, where he had been idly playing on his phone.

Throndir snorted. “I’m good.”

“Please? I drove past this thing like, eighty times over the course of my childhood and I never got to actually go.”

Throndir glanced over at him. “I don’t want to stop for a ball of twine.”

“Oh come on, we were gonna have to stop in an hour to let Kodiak out anyway.”

He wasn’t wrong, but Throndir resisted.

“Please?” Ephrim asked again, leaning across the seat to grab Throndir’s arm. “We’ll walk around, stretch our legs, take part in iconic American culture.”

“Fine,” Throndir said, rolling his eyes but grinning. “We can go see the twine ball.”

Ephrim cheered, and Kodiak joined in, barking along.

The place was filled with other tourists, it being the height of summer. It had been a few days since Throndir had been around so many other people -- maybe he could feed a little. He tried to glance around casually to see if anyone would notice him.

He stopped, something else having grabbed his attention. On the other side of the gazebo, two teenage-ish girls were posing for pictures. One of them, hair dyed a million different colors, posed for several goofy pictures. Her friend behind the camera, fire red hair and covered in freckles, cheered her on. But she wasn’t taking pictures with her phone like Throndir had initially assumed -- they were using an old-looking polaroid camera. The flash of an idea popped into his head. “I’ll be right back,” he said, tapping Ephrim on the shoulder. Distantly, he heard Ephrim questioning his decisions behind him, but he ignored that.

“Hi,” Throndir said, approaching the girls. “Um. Would you mind taking a picture of me and my... friend?”

“Oh, sure.” She moved to put the camera back in her bag.

“No, um-- can we take a picture with your camera?”

They both looked apprehensive, the one with the dyed hair narrowing her eyes at him. “Why?”

“Neither of our phones are working,” Throndir lied, “and I promised I would get him a souvenir.”

They exchanged a look. Finally, the girl who had been posing spoke. “We’ll do it for ten bucks.”

“Ten dollars?”

“Film’s not cheap,” said the redhead, backing her up.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He pulled out his wallet.

He led them back over to Ephrim. He heard one of them whisper, “Nice!” to the other, fist bumping when they thought he wasn’t looking, but figured it was best to pretend he hadn’t noticed.

With his newfound entourage, he presented the polaroid dramatically to Ephrim. “Let’s take a picture! It’s perfect.”

“Oh my god.” Ephrim ran his hands over his face, glancing between Throndir to the two teens flanking him on either side.

“There’s no digital trace. We will have literally the only copy in existence. I’ll hide it in my underwear or something, they’ll never find it.”

To their credit, the girls didn’t react to the strange conversation between them or the way Ephrim examined them as if they could be Dark Son spies.

“Okay,” he breathed, laughing a little. “Sure. Let’s do it.”

He guided Throndir toward the twine dome, hand on the small of his back.

“You know, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Throndir said in a low voice.

“No, I want to. It’s just ridiculous that the only picture that exists of you and me will be in front of a fucking ball of twine.” He giggled.

Throndir swallowed, now frozen by actually having to take the photo. He didn’t want to mess up their only chance at preserving a memory of their trip. But where he was nervous, Ephrim was steady. He didn’t move his hand from his back, leaning in slightly and smiling.

“Say cheese!” the girls called, and Throndir grinned.

Ephrim continued to laugh against him. His nerves eased as the photo printed.

“I’m so excited to see this.”

“You are such a dork.” Ephrim tiptoed up to give Throndir a kiss, a hand in his curls. Throndir was a little too distracted to pay attention to the distant click, but after he finally put the pieces together, he pulled away, eyes furrowed.

“I’m not paying you for that one,” he called, and sure enough, there was a second photo in her hands.

“On the house.” She presented it to him with a grin. “That way, you can both have one.”

Ephrim laughed, cheeks pink. Throndir’s heart swelled. “Thank you,” he managed to say.

“Will you take one of us now?” blurted the redhead. She looked nervously at her friend. “I mean, Vanya, unless you don’t want to take one together--”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I do. Come on.”

***

The last night before they would arrive home was spent somewhere in Nevada -- emphasis on somewhere, because they had definitely driven too far. They had been counting on a small town on the map to find a place to sleep, but they never seemed to pass it, until it was too dark and late to keep driving. They pulled into a rest stop, resigned to sleeping in the car for a night.

Ephrim let Kodiak out, and he bounded off. “Not too far!” Throndir called, and Kodiak barked back to show he understood.

Throndir studied Ephrim while he got out and stretched. He was wearing his red flannel again -- though at this point, Throndir doubted that he still held any ownership over it. His hair was messy, and he rubbed his eyes as he yawned. The moonlight shone on his high cheekbones and his jaw, spilling onto his arms and casting shadows on his hands. He was beautiful, Throndir thought, and he was still here, somehow. They were far past the point that they were supposed to separate for good, and Throndir couldn’t help but worry that his luck was about to run out.

Ephrim caught him staring and gave him an uncharacteristic, shy smile. Embarrassed, Throndir turned his head, up towards the night sky. Out here, they could see far more stars than in the city of Velas.

“It’s a nice night,” Ephrim said, softly.

Throndir nodded, still looking up. He hopped onto the front of the car for a better view, extending a hand to Ephrim. “Come on.”

They laid on the car for a while, backs against the windshield, not speaking and just not close enough to be touching. Throndir watched the stars, making them into pictures and turning over his worry in his head.

Finally, it became too much, and he broke the silence. “Ephrim?”

He looked over, eyes heavy, like he was about to fall asleep. “Yes?”

He sighed. “What is the plan? For tomorrow?”

Ephrim covered his eyes and groaned, but did not answer.

“Because yeah, Highwater’s got them thinking that you’re in New York now, but if you show back up in Velas, they’re gonna notice.”

He sighed. “You’re not going to like it.”

“Well, that seems like the sign of a bad plan to me.”

“Shut up,” Ephrim said, half-heartedly hitting him in the stomach. “You are going to drop me off at that same gas station.”

“Uh huh.”

“And then I’m going to go and… formally resign from the Church.”

Throndir snorted. “Resign?”

“I’m kind of playing that part by ear.”

Throndir rolled onto his side, facing Ephrim. “I still don’t understand why I can’t come with you.”

“I don’t think they’ll let me get close to Samothes if I bring you.” Ephrim still stared at the stars.

“I can hide. They won’t know I’m there.”

“They’ll know. Sneaking around is their whole thing. I mean, you met Highwater.”

Throndir tried to respond logically, to come up with a plan that would require him to be there too. When he couldn’t decide on the right thing to say, he reached out his hand, taking Ephrim’s in his. “I want to help.”

“I know.” Ephrim still didn’t meet his eyes. “But there are… consequences if this doesn’t go right. We could run away from Arrell and he would leave us alone. Samothes doesn’t work like that.” Finally, Ephrim turned to him. “If this breaks bad, I will die. I’m not condemning you to that too.”

Throndir swallowed and nodded. He could understand that. “Please don’t die,” he finally managed to say.

Ephrim laughed. “I’m not planning on it.”

“Really, though. These past two weeks with you has been good. Good in a way that I didn’t think I was ever going to get. And I would like it to continue.”

Ephrim smiled and ran his thumb over Throndir’s hand. “I’d like that too.”

***

After two weeks of sleeping in a different bed every night, it’s weird to come home and sleep in his own bed.

After a week of sleeping in a bed with Ephrim every night, it’s weird to sleep alone.

It’s quiet without him, but Throndir knows the quiet won’t last long. He gets back into his old routine as if nothing had changed: going to work, taking out Kodiak, running to the grocery store.

There are only two parts of his routine that are different. The first is that, while he lets his friends know that he’s back and he’s okay, he doesn’t talk to them much. He’s afraid, to be quite honest, of saying anything before Ephrim comes back. He doesn’t want word to get out about his plan, but also… until Ephrim comes back to him, it all still feels like a little bit of a dream. Like if he tells anyone that he met this really cute guy and they hit it off immediately and went on a life-changing road trip, it won’t be real anymore. Ephrim won’t come back— or will come back, but won’t want anything to do with Throndir anymore.

The second thing that’s changed, of course, is Throndir. He notices the little things— he goes to his usual bar and orders one of the mixed drinks Ephrim likes instead of the same beer he always gets -- but there are also bigger things. He deep cleans the apartment. He calls a therapist. The part of his brain that has been whirling away in the background, obsessing about Arrell -- it hasn’t gone away, but it’s a little quieter now.

 

After a week of being back, Throndir is giddy. Any day now, he’ll get a text from Ephrim. One week, two weeks at the longest, he had said. At maximum, he is halfway to seeing Ephrim again. His mind wanders at work, thinking of all the things he wants to do together.

After two weeks of being back, Throndir is anxious. He’s starting to wonder if things didn’t go to plan. If something happened to him-- but that can’t be. Any minute now, Ephrim will be asking him to go get celebratory drinks. He checks his phone again. Any minute now.

After three weeks of being back, Throndir is pissed. He’s sure that Dark Son got him. He knows he should have gone with Ephrim, should have found the right words to convince him. He feels trapped, so he drives. Circling around bars, store fronts, the gas station where he picked Ephrim up, looking for a glimpse of red hair, or a Church member to question. He doesn’t find anything.

After four weeks of being back, Throndir is resigned. He has the realization that if Ephrim had died, Hadrian would know and would have told him. Which means that he’s not dead, he just doesn’t want to see him again. Which is fine! It’s fine, he’ll move on. Kodiak keeps putting his head in Throndir’s lap because he thinks something’s wrong, but nothing is wrong, because Throndir is fine.

After five weeks of being back, Throndir gets a text.

> Ephrim: if i come over bleeding, would that be bad  
>  Ephrim: like, vampire-wise  
>  Throndir: Go to a hospital?????  
>  Ephrim: hospitals ask too many questions. and i doubt mundane doctors can fix this anyways  
>  Throndir: What happened? Where are you? Are you safe?  
>  Ephrim: as safe as it gets  
>  Throndir: If you want to come here, I know someone with magic I actually trust that I can call.  
>  Ephrim: great bc im outside

Throndir frowned, looking down out of his window. Sure enough, Ephrim was standing by the door, clutching his right hand and looking more than a little ruffled. His heart began to pound in his chest.

> Ephrim: buzz me up?

He did so-- of course he did. He left the door open, waiting for Ephrim.

“God, it’s fucking good to see you.” Ephrim looked like a fucking mess, dried blood on his shirt, bruises forming around his eye, but he grinned from ear to ear.

“Hi.”

“Well it’s… it’s done. It’s over. For now, at least.”

Throndir motioned Ephrim inside, speechless, and went to get a towel so he could start cleaning up. There were so many questions running through his mind. “You said it would take a week or two,” he said, finally finding his words.

“I thought it would,” was the only justification he offered. “I might need some help with that.” He gestured toward the towel. “I think my hand is fucked.”

Throndir picked it up and began gently cleaning the dirt and stains off Ephrim’s arms. Ephrim felt hot to the touch, like he was burning inside. Throndir used cool water and slow, careful movements, hoping it would help. He tried to clean his right hand, but every time he tried to focus on it, his eyes slid away from it. He couldn’t look at it, couldn’t examine it. He didn’t dare try to touch it. “What happened?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Throndir looked up from his work. “You show up at my house looking like this, you’re gonna talk about it.” The tension that had built up for the last five weeks came out in his voice, harsher than he meant it.

“I killed him, Throndir.” He swallowed. “I killed the man who tried to use me, and control me, and break me, and if I think about that too hard, I’m going to fall apart.” He took a deep breath, shaking under Throndir’s touch. “And then I fought my way back, through a bunch of assholes who are still loyal to him for some fucking reason, which is why it took so long.” He spat the words out, tears forming in his eyes.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re okay now.” He moved the towel up to his face, being as soft as he could around his bruises and holding him with the other arm.

Ephrim lifted his hand, rubbing the tears out of his eyes. “How have you been?” he asked, laughing weakly.

“It’s been weird,” Throndir admitted. “Every time I get in the car to go to work, I look over to see if you’ve put your seatbelt on.” Ephrim smiled at that, then winced as Throndir cleaned a cut on his cheek.

“Sorry!” Throndir said quickly.

“It’s okay. Just stings.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “The washcloth feels really nice. Thank you.”

“Of course. It’s… It’s really good to see you again too. God, I was so worried.”

“Anybody ever tell you that you worry too much?”

“Hey, considering?” Throndir gestured at Ephrim’s various injuries. “I think I worry exactly the right amount.”

“Well, I made it. I’m here.”

“I know, it’s great, I can finally talk to Hadrian again.”

“You haven’t talked to Hadrian since we got back?” Ephrim looked shocked.

“Not much,” he admitted. “I didn’t know what was safe to say. I didn’t want to put you in danger. I think he knows that something is up, to be clear. But he doesn’t know what.”

“So you haven’t told him that we fucked across the country?”

Throndir turned bright red. “That feels like a misinterpretation of what actually happened.”

Ephrim grinned. “I hope you know I’m never going to get tired of making you flustered.” And Ephrim pushed himself up, wrapping his left hand around Throndir’s neck, and kissed him. Throndir’s hands drifted down to hold his waist, deepening the kiss. It was as if no time had passed at all; they had jumped right back together without missing a beat.

Throndir could have stood there forever, kissing Ephrim against the countertop. But he knew there were other things that needed to be done. He broke off, tilting his head up to kiss Ephrim on the forehead. “I’m gonna go call Sunder.”

“Can you like… wait to call her?”

Throndir frowned. “No.”

“Please? I just… I missed you,” he said, tracing his finger along Throndir’s cheek.

“I missed you too,” he said, leaning into the touch for just a moment. “But I’ll miss you even more if you die in my kitchen.”

Ephrim rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna die, Throndir.”

“You don’t know that!” He walked away to go grab his phone. He stepped into the bedroom to call Sunder. He could hear Ephrim in his kitchen, walking around, opening and shutting cupboards as if he owned the place.

“She’ll be here in ten minutes,” he said, coming back into the kitchen.

“I can work with ten minutes.” Ephrim smirked, closing the gap between them.

“God, I forgot how infuriating you can be.” Despite his words, he placed his hands on his chest. He leaned in and kissed him once, very quickly. “Go sit on the couch. Let me find you something to eat. I’ll even make you a cup of coffee.”

Ephrim pouted. “Okay,” he agreed, pushing up on the balls of his feet to kiss him one more time. “Your place is nice, by the way.”

“Thank you,” he called from the kitchen. “Are you going to explain how you know where I live?”

“Nope.”

When he had put together a sandwich and brewed a cup of coffee, he came back to the living room, only to find Ephrim curled up on the couch with as much of Kodiak as would fit on his lap. His heart swelled at the sight-- his taste in interior decorating didn’t line up with Ephrim’s style at all, and yet he had slotted himself in so naturally, as if he had belonged there from the beginning.

“You’re the best,” Ephrim said almost wistfully, taking the cup of coffee into his hands.

“You have to eat too.”

“I know, I know.” He closed his eyes. “This couch is so comfortable. I’m never moving again.”

Throndir sat down on the opposite side, smiling. “I would be okay with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading!!!!!!! this is the longest thing ive written in years? and im so glad you all have enjoyed this story with me
> 
> i dont think i ever actually said it, but the title is from "i wanna get better" by the bleachers. you can check out my playlist for this fic here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ZEy59eXb1uMKd8PFSKAVh
> 
> im on twitter @angstcaffeine! say hi! hieron may be over but ephrondir is forever


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